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The   international  Critical  Commentary 


CRITICAL  AND   EXEGETICAL 
COMMENTARY 


THE  BOOK  OF  PROVERBS 


CRAWFORD    H.    TOY 

PROFESSOR  OF  HEBREW  IN    HARVARD   UNIVERSITY 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1899 


COPYRIGHT,    1899,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Worfaooli  ^ress 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


INTRODUCTION. 


§  I.   Names. 


1.  The  Masoretic  title  is  Proverbs  of  Sohtjton  (ntiStT  "'jti^tt, 
Mishle  Shelomo,  by  the  later  Jews  usually  abridged  to  Mishle). 
That  this  is  old  appears  to  be  shown  by  the  Grk.  {&^)  title 
Trapot/xtai  (the  subscription  is  simply  tt.  in  Cod.  B,  tt.  2aAo/AcovTos 
in  K,  TT.  2oX.  in  A  and  C).  The  name  might  naturally  have  been 
suggested  by  i  K.  4^^  (5'')>  ^^^  would  originally  have  been  given 
to  the  collection  10^-22''^,  whence  it  would  have  been  extended  to 
the  whole  book  as  additions  were  made  to  it  from  time  to  time. 
That  this  was  the  common  Talraudic  title  is  shown  by  Bertheau.* 
On  the  meaning  of  mashal  and  its  synonyms  see  notes  on  i^"^ 
within. 

2.  By  early  Christian  writers  the  book  was  commonly  called 
Wisdom  or  AU-virtuoits  Wisdom,^  y]  Travaperos  (jo^ia.,  names  which 
were  also  given  to  Ben-Sira  {Ecclesiasfictis)  and  IVisdom  of  Sol- 
omon.  \  Other  designations  were  -17  croe^^  /3if3\o<;  (Dionys.  of  Alex.) 
and  7]  TratSaywytK})  croc^ta  (Greg.  Naz.  Oraf.  ii).  Whether  this 
(To4>La  represents  an  ancient  Heb.  title  ntt3n  is  uncertain.  Fritzsche 
{Die  IVeisheit  Jesus- Sirach's,  Eiiil.  p.  xx)  holds  that  the  name 
ao<f)[a  given  to  Ben-Sira  bears  witness  to  a  similar  name  for  our 
Proverbs ;  but  this  is  not  certain.  It  is  possible  that  the  title 
Wisdom  was  common  in  Jewish  circles,  and  thence  passed  to  the 
Christians ;  so  Hegesippus  (quoted  by  Euseb.  icbi  sup.)  refers  the 


*  Einleitung  to  his  Comm'y  on  Spriichc. 

t  Clem.  Rom.  Cor.  i5",  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.  4,  22. 

X  Cf.  Fritzsche,  Welsh.  Jes.-Sirack  ;  Nowack,  Sprilche  Salomo's.  The  expres- 
sions a-o(J)ia  and  r)  Txa.v.  <ro<#).  sometimes,  however,  designate  Wisdom  simply  (as  the 
speaker),  and  are  not  titles  of  books.     Cf.  Frankenberg,  Die  Sprilche,  Einl.,  §  i. 


Vi  INTRODUCTION 

designation  to  "  unwritten  Jewish  tradition."  But  in  that  case  it 
would  be  rather  a  descriptive  term  than  the  official  title,  and  in 
the  former  sense  we  may  naturally  take  the  Talmudic  name  Book 
of  Wisdom*  In  the  same  way  we  may  explain  the  somewhat 
curious  fact  that  the  Mid  rash  on  Proverbs  begins  by  citing  Job  28'" : 
"and  wisdom,  where  can  it  be  found?"  the  author  has  merely  in 
mind  the  fact  that  Proverbs  deals  with  wisdom,  which  term  was 
obviously  used  to  define  the  contents  of  all  the  philosophical 
books. t 

§  2.   Divisions. 

The  divisions  of  the  Book  indicated  in  the  text  itself  are  as 
follows  : 

I.  A  group  of  discourses  on  wisdom  and  wise  conduct  (1-9)  : 

I.  General  title  (i^),  purpose  of  the  Book  (i""*^),  central  or  fun- 
damental principle  (i")  ;  2.  Warning  against  consorting  with  sin- 
ners (i^^^)  ;  3.  Wisdom's  appeal  (i^o-s^^  .  ^_  Wisdom  as  guardian 
against  bad  men  and  women  (2)  ;  5.  Advantages  attending  obe- 
dience to  the  sage's  instruction,  the  fear  of  Yahweh,  and  devotion 
to  wisdom  (3)  ;  6.  Exhortation  to  obey  the  sage  (4)  ;  7.  Warn- 
ing against  unchaste  women  (5)  ;  8.  Three  paragraphs,  against 
suretyship,  indolence,  slander,  here  misplaced  (6^"'^)  ;  9,  Warn- 
ing against  unchaste  women  (6-""^)  ;    10.  A  similar  warning  (7)  ; 

II.  Function  of  Wisdom  as  controller  of  life,  and  as  attendant  of 
Yahweh  in  the  creation  of  the  world  (8)  ;  12.  Wisdom  and  Folly 
contrasted  as  hosts  (9^"^'^^*),  and  an  interjected,  misplaced  par- 
agraph of  apophthegms  on  wisdom  (9^"^"). 

II.  A  collection  of  aphorisms  in  couplet  form  (10^-22^''). 

III.  Two   collections   of  aphoristic   quatrains    (22^-24",    and 
2423-3"). 

IV.  A  collection  of  aphoristic  couplets  (25-29). 

V.  A  collection  of  discourses  of  various  characters   (30.  31)  : 
the  "  words  of  Agur  "  (30'"^)  ;  the  certainty  of  God's  word  (30^-^)  ; 


*  nnan  1£3D,  the  name  given  to  Proverbs  in  Tosephot  Baha  Bathra,  14  b. 

t  See  Hermann  Deutsch,  Die  Sprilche  Salomos  fiach  der  auffassung  im  Talmud 
und  Midrasch,  1885.  Deutsch  also  cites  a  synagogal  prayer  of  the  12th  century,  in 
which  Proverbs  is  styled  n^ann  nsD ;  but  this  hardly  proves  anything  for  the  earliest 
times. 


STRUCTURE   OF  THE   MATERIAL  vii 

prayer  for  moderate  circumstances  (30''^)  ;  against  slandering  ser- 
vants (30^°)  ;  a  collection  of  aphorisms  citing  certain  things  ar- 
ranged in  groups  of  fours  (30'^"^)  ;  instruction  to  a  king  (31'"^)  ; 
description  of  a  model  housewife  (31^"^'). 

The  purpose  of  all  these  sections  is  the  inculcation  of  certain 
cardinal  social  virtues,  such  as  industry,  thrift,  discretion,  truth- 
fulness, honesty,  chastity,  kindness,  forgiveness,  warning  against 
the  corresponding  vices,  and  praise  of  wisdom  as  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple of  life.  If  we  compare  Proverbs  in  this  regard  with  Beji- 
Sira,  we  find  that  the  latter,  while  it  deals  in  general  with  the 
same  moral  qualities,  goes  more  into  detail  in  the  treatment  of 
social  relations,  and  has  more  to  say  of  manners  as  distinguished 
from  morals. 

§  3.   Structure  of  the  Material. 

The  divisions  indicated  above  suggest,  by  their  differences  of 
tone  and  content,  that  the  Book  has  been  formed  by  the  combina- 
tion of  collections  of  various  dates  and  origins.  It  is  not  probable 
that  one  man  was  the  author  of  the  philosophical  discourses  of 
chs.  1-9,  the  pithy  aphorisms  of  10^-22^''',  the  quatrains  of  22''-24, 
the  couplets  of  25-29,  and  the  mixed  material  of  30.  31. 

A  similar  conclusion  is  indicated  by  the  repetitions  which  occur 
in  the  Book.  Thus,  as  between  II.  and  III.  we  find  variq.nt  coup- 
lets:  cf.  ii^^and  2  2-®-^^;  18^  and  24^^;  identical  lines :  11'^  and 
24®;  13^  and  24^°;  14^  and  24'';  20"  and  24^^  As  between  II. 
and  IV.:  identical  couplets :  cf.  18^  and  26-";  19^  and  28'';  19-'* 
and  26^^;  20^®  and  27";  21^  and  25-^;  22^  and  27'-;  variant  coup- 
lets:  12"  and  28^^;  13"'*  and  29^^;  15^  and  25";  i6'-' and  25^; 
16'-*  and  26^;  22^  and  29^^^;  22'^  and  26^^;  identical  lines :  10' 
and  29';  15^^  and  29^^;  17^  and  27-^;  19^^  and.  27^^.  As  between 
III.  and  IV.,  an  identical  line :  cf.  24-^  and  28"^  Cf.  also  6'°  " 
with  24''^-^. 

From  these  repetitions  we  infer  that  the  collectors  of  II.,  III., 
IV.,  were  mutually  independent  —  no  one  of  them  was  acquainted 
with  the  work  of  the  others.  In  I.  and  V.  we  find  no  matter 
that  can  be  called  repetition ;  the  peculiar  tone  of  each  of 
these  divisions  kept  it  apart  from  the  others  ;  6^"^^  and  g'''*-  are 
misplaced. 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

Subdivisions  or  smaller  collections  also  appear  to  be  indicated 
by  repetitions  within  each  of  the  three  middle  sections.  Within 
II.:  identical  or  equivalent  couplets :  lo'  and  15-°;  10'  and  11*; 
11^^  and  17'*  and  20'^;  13"  and  14-'^;  14'-  and  16-^  (and  cf.  21^")  ; 
14^  and  19*;  16^  and  21';  19^  and  19^;  20'"  and  20'^;  21^  and 
21^^;  identical  or  equivalent  lilies:  10®  and  10^';  10*  and  io'° 
(perhaps  scribal  error);  10'^  and  18'^;  10'-'  and  19-^;  11'^  and 
20'";  11"  and  15^-;  11^^  and  16%  12"  and  13^;  14''^  and  17^; 
15^  and  18'- ;  16'*  and  18^^ ;  19'^  and  20'.  Within  III. :  couplets 
ox  lines :  22-^^  and  23"  ;  22-^  and  23^"  (the  couplets  which  in  23^^-" 
form  one  quatrain  are  in  22-^-^^  divided  between  two  quatrains)  ; 
23''"  and  24'* ;  23^^  and  24"  (a  similar  division  of  couplets)  \  on 
23^-^  see  notes.      Within  IV. :  28'^  and  29'. 

In  some  cases  these  latter  repetitions  may  be  scribal  errors. 
Ewald,  Delitzsch,  and  others,  endeavor  to  determine  the  limits  of 
the  smaller  subdivisions,  which  are  held  to  be  indicated  sometimes 
by  similarity  of  material,  sometimes  by  catch-words  ;  see  the 
notes.  The  paragraphal  divisions  are  obvious  in  I.  and  V.,  and  in 
parts  of  III.  and  IV. ;  in  II.  the  absence  of  logical  arrangement 
makes  it  very  difificult,  if  not  impossible,  to  recognize  any  such 
paragraphs,  and  the  divisions  which  have  been  suggested  are  com- 
monly arbitrary  and  useless,  as  is  pointed  out  within. 

The  niisplacement  of  certain  passages,  as  4''',  51-5  e-n.  12-19^  ^7-12^ 
and  of  a  number  of  lines  in  II.  is  discussed  in  the  notes. 

§  4.   Rhythm  and  Parallelism. 

I.  Hebrew  poetry,  as  is  now  generally  agreed,  has  neither 
metre  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  sense,  nor  systematic  rhyme  ;  there 
are  occasional  sequences  of  syllables,  which  may  be  called  iambic, 
trochaic,  anapaestic,  etc.,  and  occasional  assonances  or  rhymes ; 
but  these  are  of  irregular  occurrence,  and  obviously  do  not  belong 
to  the  essence  of  the  form  of  the  verse.* 


*  On  the  rhythmical  form  of  Hebrew  poetry  see  J.  Ley,  Grundz'tge  des  rhythi?ius 
etc.,  1875,  and  Leitfaden  der  Metrlk,  1887;  G.  Bickell,  Carm'ma  Vet.  Test,  metrice, 
1882,  his  additions  in  Zeitschr.  f.  Kath.  TheoL,  1885-1886,  and  the  introductory 
remarks  to  his  Kritische  nearbeltuttg  d.  Proverbien  in  the  Wiener  Zeitschr.  f.  d. 
Kunde  d.  Morgenlandes,  1891  ;  C.  A.  Brings,  Biblical  Study'^,  1891,  Hebraica.  1887, 
i888,    General   Introduction   to   the    Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  1899,  chs.  xiv-xvii; 


RHYTHM   AND   PARALLELISM  ix 

The  rhythmical  form  of  the  poetic  hne  or  verse  is  marked  not 
by  the  number  of  words  or  syllables,  but  by  the  number  of  accents 
or  beats.  The  accent  of  each  word  or  group  of  words  is  fixed  by 
the  laws  of  Hebrew  accentuation ;  accepting  the  Masoretic  system 
as  correct  (and  we  have  nothing  else  to  guide  us),  we  can  with 
reasonable  probability  determine  the  number  of  beats  in  any  line. 
The  chief  source  of  uncertainty  lies  in  the  presence  of  possibly  un- 
accented words,  which  are  to  be  combined  into  rhythmical  unity 
with  following  words ;  such  are  short  prepositions,  conjunctions, 
negatives,  and  nouns  defined  by  following  nouns  {status  construc- 
tus) .  These  may  or  may  not  have  an  accent ;  in  determining 
this  point  we  may  sometimes  be  aided  by  the  Masoretic  punctu- 
ation (the  Maqqef  or  hyphen),  which  gives  the  pronunciation  of 
the  seventh  century  of  our  era;  but  this  is  not  always  decisive, 
and  we  must,  in  the  last  instance,  be  guided  by  the  general  nature 
of  the  rhythm. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  possibly  misleading  suggestions  of  the 
terms  "dimeter,  trimeter,  tetrameter,  pentameter,  hexameter," 
etc.,  the  lines  are  here  coWed  In  nary  ("having  two  beats"),  ter- 
nary,  or  quaternary.  For  the  guidance  of  the  English  reader 
(the  translation  rarely  giving  the  rhythmical  form  of  the  Hebrew) 
the  rhythmical  definition  of  every  couplet  is  marked  in  the  com- 
mentary ;  thus,  ternary  means  that  both  lines  of  the  couplet  are 
ternary,  ternary- binary  that  the  first  line  is  ternary  and  the  second 
line  binary,  etc. 

In  Proverbs  the  lines  are  arranged  almost  without  exception  in 
couplets  (distichal).  A  certain  number  of  triplets  occur  (tris- 
tichal),  and  these  must  be  dealt  with  every  one  for  itself.  The 
presence  of  triplets,  even  in  a  passage  predominantly  distichal, 
must  be  admitted  to  be  possible.  In  some  cases  the  third  line 
appears  to  be  a  corruption  of  some  other  line,  or  the  remains  of  a 
separate  couplet,  or  an  erroneous  scribal  insertion  ;  where  there 
is  no  reasonable  ground  of  suspicion,  beyond  the  irregularity,  the 
triplet  form  must  be  accepted. 

2.  Strophes  (quatrains  and  other  forms)  occur  in  all  parts  of 
the  Book  except  II.      It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  a  discourse 

Grimme,  in  ZDMG.,  1896.    On  Babylonian  rhythm  see  Delitzsch,  ^a^.  Weltschopf- 
ungsepos ;  H.  Zimmern,  in  ZATW.,  1898. 


X  INTRODUCTION 

must  be  strophic  in  form ;  in  every  case  the  question  must  be  de- 
cided by  the  logical  connection  of  the  material.* 

The  principle  of  arrangement  by  couplets  and  strophes  may 
properly  be  used  for  the  criticism  of  the  text,  always,  of  course, 
with  due  caution;  it  may  easily  be  pressed  too  far. 

3.  The  form  of  the  parallelism  varies  in  the  different  Sections. 
In  I.  it  may  be  said  to  be,  in  accordance  with  the  tone  of  the  dis- 
courses, wholly  synonymous  ;  the  apparent  exceptions  are  y'""^^-  ^-'^, 
9**,  all  occurring  in  misplaced  or  doubtful  paragraphs.  II.  divides 
itself  into  two  parts  :  in  chs.  10-15  the  form  is  antithetic,  in  16-22^'' 
the  couplets  are  mostly  comparisons  and  single  sentences,  with  a 
few  antitheses.  III.  is  made  up  of  synonymous  lines,  except  24^^ 
IV.  shows  a  division  into  two  parts  :  in  chs.  25-27  we  find  com- 
parisons and  single  sentences,  except  in  25^,  27'^"^-,  which  con- 
tains antitheses,  while  in  chs.  28.  29  the  two  forms  are  nearly  equal 
in  number  (33  antithetic  couplets,  22  comparisons  and  single 
sentences).  In  V.  the  parallelism  is,  with  a  few  exceptions  (see 
2q12.  24-28  21^**),  synonymous. 

So  far,  then,  as  the  rhythmical  form  may  be  regarded  as  an 
indication  of  origin  we  must  put  in  one  group  chs.  10-15  ^^'^  P^-rt 
of  chs.  28.  29,  and  in  another  group  chs.  16-22^^,  25-27  and  part  of 
chs.  28.  29.  I.  and  V.  stand  by  themselves,  and  III.  stands  mid- 
way between  II.,  IV.,  and  I. 

If  we  compare  the  rhythmical  forms  of  Proverbs  and  the  Psalter, 
we  find  that  most  of  the  Psalms,  being  connected  discourses,  re- 
semble I.;  the  aphoristic  i/'  37  shows  the  same  variations  as  II., 
III.,  IV.  Lamentations  is  rhythmically  unique,  but  belongs  in  the 
same  general  category  as  I.,  as  does  also  Canticles. 

§  5 .   Thought. 

Proverbs  may  be  described  as  a  manual  of  conduct,  or,  as 
Bruch  calls  it,  an  "  anthology  of  gnomes."  Its  observations  relate 
to  a  number  of  forms  of  life,  to  affairs  domestic,  agricultural, 
urban  (the  temptations  of  city  life),  commercial,  political,  and 
military. 

*  On  strophic  structure  in  the  Old  Testament  see,  besides  the  works  mentioned 
above,  D.  H.  Miiller,  Die  Propheten.  1895,  and  Strophenbau  und  Responsion,  1898. 


THOUGHT  xi 

Many  of  the  sayings  are  simply  maxims  of  commonsense  pru- 1 
dence,  enjoining  industry  and  caution  (6^"''-^"  lo^-^^  ii^'  12^ 
14^"  16^^  20^  23^"  25*'  28®  30^'',  etc.),  sometimes  with  what 
seems  to  be  a  humorous  or  sarcastic  turn  (6''"^  19-^  23''^"^  30"~')- 
The  most  are  ethical,  inculcating  lessons  of  truth  and  general  good- 
ness. A  rehgious  tone  is  found  in  different  degrees  in  different 
sections  :  in  I.,  if  we  omit  the  cosmogonic  hymn  in  ch.  8,  the  ref- 
erences to  God  occur  almost  exclusively  in  chs.  1-3,  and  there 
partly  in  passages  (such  as  2^"^  3"'"^)  which  appear  to  be  editorial 
insertions ;  the  divine  name  is  mentioned  most  frequently  in  II. 
(21  times  in  chs.  10-15,  ^3  times  in  chs.  16.  17,  21  times  in  18- 
2  2^'^)  ;  in  III.  there  are  6  occurrences,  and  8  in  IV.  (2  in  chs.  25- 
27,  and  6  in  chs.  28.  29)  ;  in  V.  a  reference  to  God  is  found  only 
in  30-"^  (3  times).  It  appears  then  that  II.  is  relatively  more 
religious,  the  rest  of  the  Book  more  definitely  ethical. 

None  of  the  aphorisms,  however,  —  not  even  such  as  "  go  to 
the  ant,  thou  sluggard,"  or  "  answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly," 
or  the  tetrads  in  ch.  30,  —  are  popular  proverbs  or  folk-sayings. 
They  are  all  reflective  and  academic  in  tone,  and  must  be  re- 
garded as  the  productions  of  schools  of  morahsts  in  a  period  of 
high  moral  culture.  The  ideas  of  the  Book  may  be  considered 
under  their  ethical,  religious,  and  philosophical  aspects.* 

A.   Ethical. 

I.  The  high  ethical  standard  of  the  Book  is  universally  recog- 
nized. Its  maxims  all  look  to  the  establishment  of  a  safe,  peaceful, 
happy  social  life,  in  the  family  and  the  community ;  the  supposed 
exceptions,  cases  of  alleged  selfish  prudence  (as,  for  example,  the 
caution  against  going  security),  are  only  apparent,  since  proper 
regard  for  self  is  an  element  of  justice. 

Honesty  and  truthfulness  in  public  and  private  life,  especially  in 
business-transactions  and  courts  of  justice,  are  throughout  insisted 
on,  and  respect  for  human  property  and  life  is  enjoined  ;  the  mor- 
alist has  particularly  in  mind  the  urban  crimes  of  perjury,  theft, 

*  Cf.  A.  F.  Dahne,  Geschichtl.  Darstellimg  d.jiid.-alex.  Relig.-philosophie,  1834; 
T.  K.  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon,  1887 ;  C.  G.  Montefiore,  Rel/g.  Value  of  the  Book 
ofProv.,  in  JQR.,  1890 ;   R.  Pfeiffer,  Relig.-sittliche  VVeltanschauu9ig  d.  B.  d.  Spruche, 

1897;   Cheyne,  Jeiuish  Relig.  Life  aftei- the  Exile,  1898. 


/ 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

robbery,  and  murder.  A  fine  conception  of  political  equity  is 
given  in  the  picture  of  tlie  king  (not  a  Messiah,  but  an  ideal 
sovereign  in  general),  who  is  represented  as  the  embodiment  of 
justice  in  his  dealings  with  his  people  ;  the  references  to  royal 
authority  occur  almost  exclusively  in  chs.  16-29  (the  other  in- 
stances are  S^  1428.35  ^^si  312-9).  xhe  idea  of  justice  is  prominent 
in  all  parts  of  Proverbs  (as  also  throughout  OT.,  and  in  Egyptian 
and  Greek  ethical  systems)  ;  and,  as  the  fundamental  virtue  in 
human  intercourse,  it  is  identified  with  general  probity  or  right- 
eousness, the  same  terms  being  used  to  express  both  conceptions 
(see  notes  on  i^  al.^.  Warnings  against  unchastity  constitute  a  spe- 
cial feature  of  I.  (they  are  fotmd  elsewhere  in  22'*  23-'  30^**)  ;  one 
of  the  terms  used  for  harlot,  "  strange  woman  "  (2'^  a/.),  designates 
the  vice  in  question  as  an  offence  against  the  well-being  of  the 
family.  Kindness  to  man  (3^*  al.)  and  beast  (12^")  is  enjoined  fre- 
quently in  II.,  and  once  in  I.  and  V.  each  ;  the  fact  that  the  term 
(as  elsewhere  in  OT.)  is  several  times  associated  with  "  truth"  (3^ 
14-2  16''  20"*)  may  indicate  that  the  element  of  justice  entered  into 
the  conception  of  kindness.  Love  is  extolled  (10'-)  as  minister- 
ing to  peace.  There  is  a  sharp  polemic  against  slander  and  mali- 
cious gossip  (6^--^^-^"  i6-^  <?/.).  Special  regard  is  shown  for  the 
interests  of  the  poor  (22"  «/.).  Irascibility  is  condemned  (14^'), 
and  pride  (13'")  ;  and  modesty  or  lowliness  is  approved  (11^). 
Frank  acknowledgment  of  wrong  is  enjoined  (28'^).  Revenge  is 
forbidden  (24"'),  and  kindness  to  enemies  is  insisted  on.  Indus- 
try is  praised,  sloth  is  ridiculed,  temperance  in  eating  and  drinking 
is  urged.  The  ideal  of  family-life  is  high  (especially  in  I.,  III., 
and  ch.  31)  :  monogamy  is  assumed  ;  parents  are  the  responsible 
guides  of  their  children,  and  entitled  to  their  obedience  and 
respect  (love  to  parents  is  not  mentioned,  but  is  doubtless  in- 
volved), the  mother  having  equal  honor  with  the  father.  Woman 
is  spoken  of  only  in  the  relations  of  wife,  mother,  and  housewife  : 
she  is  a  power  in  the  house,  capable  of  making  home  miserable 
(19'^  a/.)  or  happy  (18-^  3i'*)  ;  she  has  not  only  housekeeping- 
capacity,  but  also  broad  wisdom  (i*  31""^)  ;  her  position  is  as  high 
as  any  accorded  her  in  ancient  life  (Egypt,  Greece,  Rome). 
Proverbs  speaks  (i^  (?/.)  of  the  training  of  children  at  home  ;  but 
of  the  method  and  extent  of  the  education  of  children  in  Hebrew 


THOUGHT  xiii 

postexilian  communities  we  know  little  (cf.  note  on  22^).  The 
frequency  with  which  terms  for  "  instruction  "  occur  in  the  Book 
makes  it  probable  that  a  definite  apparatus  of  training  existed. 

Among  the  virtues  not  mentione_d  in  Proverbs  are  courage  (see 
note  on  28'),  fortitude  (see  3'^),  moderation  in  thought,  self- 
sacrifice,  intellectual  truthfulness.  The  silence  of  the  sages  (and 
of  OT.  generally)  respecting  these  traits  is  doubtless  to  be  inter- 
preted as  indicating  not  that  they  did  not  exist  among  the  Israel- 
ites, but  chiefly  that  the  moralists  attached  more  importance  to 
other  qualities  as  effective  forces  in  the  struggle  of  life  ;  the  last- 
mentioned  virtue,  further,  belongs  to  a  mode  of  thought  which  was 
foreign  to  the  Jewish  mind.  The  obligation  to  seek  truth  is  rec- 
ognized in  I.  (i^  3^  a/.),  but  the  "truth"  is  that  law  of  conduct 
obedience  to  which  secures  prosperity  and  happiness.  Of  beauty 
as  an  element  of  life  nothing  is  said  ;  the  failure  to  mention  it  is 
due  not  to  the  religious  character  of  the  Book  (for  much  of  the 
material  oi  Proverbs  is  non-religious),  but  to  the  fact  that  the  Jew- 
ish sages  had  not  been  trained  to  distinct  recognition  of  the  value 
of  the  beautiful  in  the  conduct  of  life.  So  also  the  silence  of 
Proverbs  in  regard  to  international  ethics  must  be  referred  to  the 
times  ;  the  Jews  were  not  then  a  nation,  and  could  not  have 
political  relations  with  the  surrounding  peoples,  and  moreover,  a 
science  of  international  ethics  did  not  then  exist  in  the  world. 

2,  Life  is  contemplated  on  its  external  and  visible  side,  as  a  j 
mass  of  acts.  The  freedom  of  the  will  is  assumed,  but  there  is  no 
inquiry  into  its  nature  and  its  relation  to  the  absolute  will  of  God  \ 
or  to  conditions  of  temperament  and  education.  There  is  no 
reference  to  such  inward  experiences  as  swaying  between  opposed 
lines  of  conduct,  struggle  with  temptation,  and  the  mistakes  of 
conscientious  ignorance.  Men  are  judged,  without  allowance,  ac- 
cording to  their  actual  conformity  to  law,  and  are  sharply  divided 
into  good  and  bad  ;  in  i^-  "  simpleton,"  "  scoffer,"  and  "  fool  "  are 
equivalent  terms,  and  these  classes  are  set  over  against  the  obe- 
dient in  1^2.33^  Yn  II.-V.  characters  are  regarded  as  fixed;  in  I. 
the  exhortations  assume  the  possibility  of  change,  but  it  is  said 
(i^^)  that  when  the  hour  of  punishment  comes  it  will  be  too  late 
to  turn.  There  is  no  reference  to  sorrow  for  sin  or  in  general  to 
processes  of  conversion  from  bad  to  good,  or  from  good  to  bad 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

(so  in  Ez.  1 8).  The  advantages  and  disadvantages,  for  practical 
morality,  of  tliis  strictly  external  conception  of  life  are  obvious. 

The  absence  of  all  inquiry  into  the  psychological  basis  of  the 
moral  life  (which  Proverbs  has  in  common  with  the  rest  of  OT.)  is 
due  to  the  Jewish  practical,  unspeculative  habit  of  thought.  There 
are  no  terms  for  "conscience"  and  "duty"  in  Hebrew,  and  no 
Hebrew  prophet  or  sage  troubles  himself  to  examine  into  the 
origin  of  the  sense  of  obligation.  The  OT.  ethical  thought  is 
wholly  occupied  with  the  question  how  to  make  the  best  of  life. 

3.  The  same  practical  point  of  view  controls  the  determination  of 
the  grounds  of  moral  judgments,  and  the  motives  for  the  good  hfe. 

For  the  standard  of  rightdoing  the  appeal  in  Proverbs  is  to 
commonsense  or  to  the  command  of  God.  There  is  no  reference 
to  the  good  of  society  as  a  whole,  no  recognition  of  society  as  an 
ethical  cosmos,*  no  attempt  to  define  the  relation  between  society 
and  the  individual  or  to  hafmonize  egoism  and  altruism  in  the 
unity  of  the  cosmos. 

The  motive  urged  for  good  living  is  individualistic  utilitarian  or 
eudaemonistic  —  not  the  glory  of  God,  or  the  welfare  of  men  in 
general,  but  the  well-being  of  the  actor.  Nor  is  there  specific 
reference  to  man's  obligation  to  seek  moral  perfection  for  its  own 
sake.  The  only  point  directly  insisted  on  is  that  happiness  follows 
obedience  to  the  law  of  right.  It  is  unnecessary  to  call  attention 
to  the  fundamental  value  of  this  principle  in  practical  life,  and  to 
its  ethical  limitations.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  assumed 
that  the  broader  and  more  ideal  points  of  view  were  unknown  to 
the  Jewish  moralists ;  we  can  infer  only  that  such  points  of  view 
did  not  seem  to  them  to  have  practical  importance. 

The  scheme  of  life  in  Proverbs  cannot  strictly  be  called  either 
optimistic  or  pessimistic.  The  existence  of  moral  and  physical 
evil  is  recognized,  without  attempt  to  explain  its  origin  or  to 
reconcile  it  with  the  moral  perfection  of  God.  But  there  is  also 
recognition  of  the  possibility  of  escaping  or  rising  superior  to  all 
evil ;  universal  happiness  is  contemplated  as  the  ideal  ultimate 
lot  of  humanity.t 

*  That  is,  no  recognition  by  the  individual  as  guide  of  his  own  life.     The 
philosophical  conception  of  the  cosmos  is  found  in  ch.  8;  see  p.  xvi. 
t  On  a  supposed  pessimistic  sentiment  in  14I3  see  note  on  that  verse. 


THOUGHT  XV 


B.   Religioiis. 

1.  Monotheism  is  taken  for  granted,  God  is  regarded  as  su- 
preme and  absolute  in  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness,  and  the  only 
trace  of  anthropomorphism  in  the  theistic  conception  is  the  unsym- 
pathetic (hostile  and  mocking)  attitude  of  God  toward  the  sinner 
(i^^  11^  «/.).  This  conception  is  in  the  main  that  of  OT.  gener- 
ally, and  is  a  part  of  the  practical  point  of  view  of  the  moralists. 

2.  Of  other  supernatural  beings  (angels  and  demons)  there  is 
no  mention  (see  note  on  30^^).  The  existence  of  such  beings  no 
doubt  formed  part  of  the  popular  belief  of  the  time  (Job  i*^  t,-^ 
)//  91"  I  C.  21^)  ;  but  the  sages,  dealing  with  the  everyday  moral 
life,  saw  no  occasion  to  refer  to  these  administrative  agencies,  and 
confined  themselves  to  the  visible  facts.  Idolatry  is  not  mentioned 
—  the  audience  addressed  in  Proverbs  is  Jewish. 

3.  Sin  is  the  violation  of  law  in  the  most  general  sense,  and 
salvation,  which  is  deliverance  from  earthly  evil,  is  secured  by 
obedience  to  law,  human  and  divine.  There  is  no  reference  or 
allusion  to  a  Messiah,  or  to  any  national  deliverance  (see  notes  on 
the  passages  relating  to  kings). 

4.  The  only  national  element  in  the  Book  is  the  mention  of 
sacrifice,  which  occurs  five  times ;  of  the  occurrences  only  three 
(15*  21^-^)  have  an  ethical  tone,  the  others  (7"  17^)  being  merely 
allusions  to  feasting  in  connection  with  sacrifices.  There  is  no 
mention  of  temple  or  priests.  As  to  a  supposed  reference  to 
tithes  in  3^  see  note  on  that  verse.  Obviously  the  temple-cult  is 
recognized,  but  is  not  supposed  to  have  a  close  connection  with 
moral  life. 

5.  The  sage  speaks  in  his  own  name,  without  reference  to  divine 
inspiration  or  to  any  book  as  authority.  The  "  law  "  of  which  he 
speaks  is  the  law  of  his  own  conscience  and  reason ;  he  does  not 
name  Moses  or  the  prophets.  In  some  cases  (as  in  6^"^)  he 
appears  to  depart  from  the  Pentateuchal  legislation.  He  does 
not  mention  a  collection  of  sacred  books ;  but  this  silence  is  due 
partly  to  the  Hterary  custom  of  the  time,  pardy  to  the  nature  of 
his  material ;  even  the  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomofi,  though 
in  chs.  10-19  h^  follows  closely  the  narrative  of  the  Hexateuch, 
does  not  name  that  book.     In  Proverbs  (30^-^)  there  are  two  quo- 


XVI  INrRODUCTION 

tations,  one  from  if/  i8°\  the  other  from  Dt.  4-  13^  and  neither  of 
these  books  is  mentioned.  The  sages  were  doubtless  acquainted 
with  the  greater  part  of  our  Old  Testament,  but  they  use  its  mate- 
rial freely  as  literature,  and  do  not  cite  it  as  a  Canon  of  Scripture.  * 
Proverbs  does  not  mention  a  class  of  scribes  or  extol  learning  as 
Ben-Sira  does  (38-^-39"),  but  it  makes  mention  of  sages,  and 
assumes  the  existence  of  systematic  instruction,  in  which  the  study 
of  the  literature  no  doubt  played  an  important  part. 

6.  The  eschatology  is  of  the  simple  and  primitive  sort  that  is 
found  in  the  greater  part  of  OT.  :  Sheol,  the  abode  of  all  the 
dead,  has  no  moral  significance  ;  there  is  no  judgment  after  death, 
and  the  position  of  men  in  Sheol  has  no  relation  to  their  moral 
character  ;  see  notes  on  2'**-  '^  5^  al.  The  divine  judgment  is  mani- 
fested in  the  last  moment  of  life  (ninx,  s'*  al.).  The  idea  of  ethical 
immortality  was  either  unknown  to  the  sages  or  was  regarded  by 
them  as  unimportant  for  practical  life. 

7.  The  thought  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Book  is  definitely 
religious,  standing  in  sympathetic  and  reverent  contact  with  the 
conception  of  a  just  and  wise  divine  government  of  the  world. 
The  sages  are  independent  thinkers,  but  refer  their  wisdom 
ultimately  to  God. 

C.   Philosophical,  t 

I.  In  agreement  with  other  Wisdom  books,  and  in  contrast  with 
the  rest  of  OT.,  Proverbs,  in  all  its  parts  and  especially  in  I.,  iden- 
tifies virtue  with  knowledge.  Its  position  is  thus  sharply  distin- 
guished from  that  of  the  Prophets,  the  Law,  and  the  Psalmists,  in 
which  Yahweh,  as  national  God,  is  always  ready  to  favor  his  people 
if  he  alone  be  recognized  and  obeyed.  The  central  idea  of  the 
Book  is  "  wisdom,"  which  performs  all  the  functions  elsewhere  in 
OT.  ascribed  to  Yahweh  (i-^-^i  2'"'"  3^""'^  9^"*^  22^'  al.).  This  wis- 
dom is,  in  parts  of  the  Book,  also  identified  with  religion  (i'  al.) 
—  a  point  of  view  proper  and  necessary  for  a  Jew.  But  the  sage's 
chief  interest,  particularly  in  I.,  is  in  the  intellectual  grasp  of  prac- 
tical truth  ;  in  certain  places,  as  in  2^"*,  an  editor  has  thought  it 

*  Cf.  the  manner  in  which  Jeremiah  is  referred  to  in  Dan.  9^  and  the  way  in 
which  the  translator  of  Be^i-Sira  puts  his  grandfather  in  the  same  category  with  the 
prophets  and  other  Israelitish  writers. 

t  Cf.  H.  Bois,  Origliies  d.  I.  philosopkie  judio-alexandrine,  1890. 


THOUGHT  XVll 

desirable  to  introduce  a  specifically  religious  statement  into  the 
sage's  picture  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  wisdom.  The  religious 
coloring  in  I.  and  elsewhere  is,  however,  not  to  be  referred  to  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  philosophers  to  placate  the  orthodox 
party  (Oort),  but  must  be  regarded  as  a  natural  expression  of  the 
view  of  the  authors  of  the  Book. 

The  conception  of  the  world  as  a  physical  and  moral  cosmos  or 
orderly  arrangement  is  found,  at  least  in  germinal  form,  in  such 
OT.  passages  as  Gen.  i,  i/^  104.  But  the  conception  is  far  dis- 
tincter  in  Pr.  8,  in  which  wisdom  is  said  to  control  all  human 
society  and  to  have  been  present  at  the  creation  of  the  world.* 

Wisdom  in  Proverbs  is  a  human  quality,  generally  (in  II.-V.) 
regulating  the  ordinary  affairs  of  men,  but  sometimes  (in  I.) 
appearing  in  the  larger  character  of  sovereign  of  life.  It  is  then 
only  a  step  to  the  still  broader  conception  of  her  in  (8""^')  as  a 
divine  attribute,  as  in  fact  the  chief  attribute  of  God.  How  this 
scheme  of  different  conceptions  is  to  be  unified  is  not  explained 
by  the  sages,  and  we  cannot  be  sure  that  they  had  worked  out  a 
self-consistent  philosophical  system.  But  the  idea  of  "wisdom" 
appears  to  be  parallel  to  the  OT.  idea  of  "spirit" — a  life  com- 
mon to  God  and  man,  breathed  into  man  by  God  —  treated  ordi- 
narily in  its  human  relations  and  activities  merely,  but,  in  the 
highest  flights  of  the  philosophical  imagination  (as  in  ch.  8),  re- 
garded as  universal  and  all-controUing.  The  conception  is  not 
"  pantheistic  "  in  the  modern  sense  of  that  term,  but  is  an  ethical 
and  philosophical  expansion  and  purification  of  the  old  tribal  and 
national  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  deity  with  his  people.  Cf.  VVS.  7. 
The  question  whether  the  representation  of  Wisdom  in  ch.  8  is  a 
personification  or  a  hypostatization  is  discussed  in  the  notes. 

2.  An  expression  of  philosophical  skepticism  appears  to  occur 
in  30-"^  (Agur)  on  which  see  notes  ;  the  doubt  expressed  relates 
to  man's  capacity  to  understand  God.  The  parallels  are  all  in  the 
Wisdom  books  (Job  3,  9'^  19^  al.,  Eccl.  3").  Elsewhere  in  OT. 
(as  in  1/^  139)  the  greatness  of  God  is  treated  as  a  ground  of  awe 
and  reverence ;  here  it  is  regarded  as  a  reason  for  refraining  from 
attempts  to  define  him. 

*  See  footnote  on  p.  xiv. 


XVlil  INTRODUCTION 

D.    Comparison  with  Other  Books. 

1.  In  its  ethical  code  Proverbs  agrees  in  the  main  with  the 
more  advanced  Jewish  canonical  and  uncanonical  books  (the  Pirke 
Aboth  is  especially  important)  and  with  the  New  Testament ;  in 
the  later  period  of  Jewish  history  there  had  come  to  be  a  gener- 
ally recognized  moral  code.*  In  some  cases  (as  in  6'''"^)  Proverbs 
modifies  the  old  law  for  the  better,  and  its  prohibition  of  revenge 
(24^''-^  25-')  not  only  stands  in  striking  contrast  with  such  senti- 
ments as  that  of  i/'  109,  but  appears  to  be  unique  in  OT.  (it  is  not 
exactly  paralleled  in  Lev.  19^^  <//  120''). 

2.  Its  religious  point  of  view  is  in  general  (in  respect  to  God, 
sin,  salvation,  Messianic  expectation,  the  future  life)  the  same  as 
that  of  the  other  Wisdom  books  except  Wisdom  of  Solomon  ;  but 
it  is  less  national  than  Beii-Sira  (see,  for  example,  BS.  24),  and 
differs  from  our  book  oi  Job  in  that  it  makes  no  mention  of  sub- 
ordinate supernatural  beings  (cf.  Job  i^  3^  5^  26^^-^^  Zl^)'}  ^S. 
is  much  later  than  Proverbs,  and  represents  a  different  order  of 
ideas. 

3.  In  its  picture  of  social  life  it  most  resembles  Ben-Sira  f ; 
the  two  books  deal,  in  fact,  with  the  same  sort  of  society,  chiefly 
city  life,  with  its  commerce,  its  feasts,  its  gossip,  its  temptations  to 
licentiousness,  its  relaxation  of  family-ties,  its  worship  of  money, 
and  its  close  relations  with  royalty ;  cf.,  among  other  passages, 
Pr.  3-3  and  BS.  f  (slander),  Pr.  5.  7  and  BS.  9'-"  2^^-'^  (the  har- 
lot), Pr.  6^-5  \f^  and  BS.  29' ^-^"-^^  (suretyship),  Pr.  13^''  and 
BS.  30^-^^  (chastisement  of  children),  Pr.  11*  22^^  and  BS.  5* 
(riches),  Pr.  14^1  22^^  and  BS.  4^-''  (the  poor),  Pr.  \\^  28'^  and 
BS.  10''  (kings),  Pr.  15^0  30"- ^^  and  BS.  3'-'"  (conduct •  toward 
parents),  Pr.  18^^  and  BS.  6^-^«  (friends),  Pr.  20^  2^'^''  and  BS.  19^ 
2i27-so  (wine),  Pr.  20"  and  BS.  27-  (buying  and  selling),  Pr.  23'"* 
and  BS.  32^"'^  (conduct  at  feasts).  Ben-Sira  goes  more  into  detail 
than  Proverbs  in  the  description  of  social  relations,  but  the  social 


*  Ben-Sira  sometimes  falls  below  the  general  level ;  on  this  point  and  on  the 
ethics  of  Prov.  and  DS.  see  C.  G.  Montefiore  in  Jezvish  Quart.  Rev.  II.  (1889- 
1890),  pp.  430  ff. 

t  And  we  may  add  the  Syriac  Menander,  given  in  Land's  Anecdota  Syriaca, 
Vol.  I. ;  see  Frankenberg's  article  in  ZA'J'li'.,  1895. 


ORIGIN   AND   DATE  XIX 

organization  contemplated  appears  to  be  the  same   in   the  two 
books. 

4.  More  generally,  as  regards  the  moral  and  religious  point  of 
view  and  aim  of  the  books  of  the  Wisdom  group  :  Job  is  a  pas- 
sionate discussion  of  the  question  whether  the  divine  government 
of  the  world  is  just;  Proverbs  and  Ben-Sira  ignore  this  question, 
and  confine  themselves  to  cheery  practical  suggestions  for  the 
conduct  of  everyday-life  ;  Eccksiastes  treats  life  as  a  logically  and 
ethically  insoluble  riddle,  and  advises  a  moderate  and  wise  enjoy- 
ment of  its  good  things ;  Wisdom  of  Solomon  dwells  on  eternal 
wisdom,  the  architect  and  inspirer  of  the  world,  as  the  guide  of 
life,  and  on  the  hope  of  happy  immortality  as  the  consolation  amid 
earthly  trials.  Proverbs  and  Ben-Sira  thus  form  a  separate  sub- 
group, devoting  themselves  to  practical  morals  in  contrast  with 
the  speculative  element  in  the  other  books. 

§  6.   Origin  and  Date. 

I.  Various  authors  are  named  in  the  titles  :  to  Solomon  are 
ascribed  chs.  10^-22^'',  25-29,  and  apparently  chs.  1-9  (though  the 
title  in  i^  may  be  intended  to  refer  to  the  whole  book),  to  "the 
sages"  22^^-24"  and  24--^-''^  to  Agur  30--^  (and  possibly  but  not 
probably  other  parts  of  ch.  30),  to  the  Mother  of  King  Lemuel 
31-"^;  3ii*'-3^  and  probably  30^'^  are  anonymous. 

No  OT.  titles  are  in  themselves  authoritative  in  the  sense  that 
they  can  be  accepted  without  reference  to  the  material  involved. 
The  name  "  Moses "  stands  for  legislators  of  all  periods ;  no 
psalm  or  other  production  ascribed  by  the  tradition  to  David  can 
be  assigned  him  without  examination  of  its  contents ;  large  parts 
of  the  books  of  Amos,  Isaiah,  Micah,  Zephaniah,  Jeremiah,  and 
Zechariah  were  certainly  not  written  by  the  prophets  whose  names 
they  bear,  and  Jonah  and  Daniel  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  com- 
position of  the  books  called  after  them.  The  name  "  Solomon  " 
in  titles  is  of  equally  doubtful  import.  The  fact  that  he  is  said  to 
be  the  author  of  Proverbs,  Canticles,  Eccksiastes,  and  \\i  72.  127  * 
shows  that  the  Jewish  tradition  came  to  regard  him  as  the  ideal  of 

*  To  which  somewhat  later  were  added  Wisdom  of  Solo?non  and  Psalms  of  Sol' 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

wisdom  and  a  writer  of  idealizing  non-liturgical  poetry,*  and 
ascribed  to  him  indiscriminately  everything  of  this  sort.  If  the 
titles  in  Canticles  and  Ecclesiastes  cannot  be  accepted  as  authori- 
tative, neither  can  those  in  Proverbs  be  so  regarded.  And  if  little 
or  no  weight  is  to  be  attached  to  i^  (as  is  now  generally  held), 
the  same  thing  must  hold  of  lo'  and  25^  As  to  the  latter  title  it 
is  sometimes  said  that  so  definite  a  statement  (namely,  that  prov- 
erbs of  Solomon  were  edited  by  scholars  of  Hezekiah's  time) 
must  have  an  historical  basis.  But  still  more  definite  statements 
are  prefixed  to  certain  obviously  late  psalms  ascribed  to  David 
(see,  for  example,  \\i  51-60),  and  the  history  of  the  Prophetic  and 
historical  writings  makes  it  improbable  that  the  collection  and 
editing  of  literary  material  began  so  early  as  the  reign  of  Heze- 
kiah. 

Agur  and  Lemuel's  Mother  are  shadowy  figures  of  whom  little 
of  a  helpful  nature  can  be  said  ;  see  notes  on  30'  31'.  With  "  the 
sages  "  the  case  is  somewhat  different ;  the  term  specifies  not  an 
individual,  but  a  class,  and,  since  it  is  apparently  derived  from  the 
nature  of  the  material,  so  far  carries  with  it  its  own  justification ; 
but  from  it  in  itself  we  get  no  more  chronological  aid  than  we 
should  get  in  the  criticism  of  the  Psalter  from  the  statement  that 
the  book  was  composed  by  "  psalmists."  Whether  the  ascription 
to  "  sages  "  is  probable  must  be  determined  by  an  examination  of 
the  contents  of  the  sections  in  question. 

In  the  body  of  the  book  of  Proverbs  there  is  no  mention  of  any 
historical  person  or  event  from  which  a  date  can  be  drawn.  Ithiel 
and  Ucal  (30^)  appear  to  be  corrupt  forms,  the  attempt  of  Geiger 
to  find  a  King  Alcimus  in  30''^  is  unsuccessful,  and  the  absence  of 
historical  allusions  elsewhere  in  the  Book  is  intelligible  from  the 
nature  of  the  material. 

For  the  determination  of  origin  and  date  we  must,  therefore, 
have  recourse  to  internal  data. 

2.  The  following  facts  appear  to  point  to  the  postexilian  period 
as  the  time  of  origination  of  the  Book.f 

The  tacit  assumption  of  monotheism  can  hardly  belong  to  an 

*  *  72  appears  to  have  been  referred  to  him  because  it  gives  the  picture  of  a 
splendid  monarch,  and  y\i  127  because  of  his  fame  as  builder  of  the  Temple, 
t  Cf.  Stade  and  Holtzmann,  G  VI.,  II.,  pp.  292  ff. 


ORIGIN   AND   DATE  xxi 

earlier  time.  Ezekiel  (Ez.  6.  8.  23  al.)  declares  that  idolatry  was 
rampant  in  Israel  down  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Chaldeans,  and  its  existence  more  than  a  century  later  is  probably 
vouched  for  by  Zech.  13-.*  It  may  be  said  that  the  sages,  as  mor- 
alists, might  ignore  purely  religious  errors,  even  though  they  were 
as  common  as  in  the  preexilian  period ;  but  astral  worship  is  re- 
ferred to  in  Job  3i-''-^  and  it  is  hardly  likely  that  in  a  book  of  so 
wide  a  range  as  that  of  Proverbs  there  should  be  no  hint  of  a 
usage  that  would  have  been  the  destruction  of  the  "  fear  of 
Yahvveh." 

The  absence  of  characteristic  national  traits  points  in  the  same 
direction.  The  terms  "  Israel,  Israel's  covenant  with  Yahweh, 
temple,  priest,  prophet"  (see  note  on  29^*),  all  common  in  the 
Prophetic  writings,  do  not  occur  in  Proverbs.  These  expressions 
are  found  in  postexilian  writings,  and  their  absence  in  Prove7-bs  is, 
therefore,  not  merely  a  matter  of  date  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  an  Israelitish  ethical  and  rehgious  writer  of  the  preex- 
ilian time,  whatever  the  literary  form  of  his  work,  could  refrain 
from  mentioning  them.  The  same  remark  holds  of  other  religious 
ideas  referred  to  above  (§  5,  B).  The  fact  that  the  term  "law," 
which  (whether  priestly  or  Prophetic)  in  preexilian  writings  always 
means  the  command  of  Yahweh,  here  denotes  the  instruction  of 
sages  is  significant.  As  for  the  national  name  "Yahweh,"  frequent 
in  Proverbs,  it  occurs  in  Ben-Sira,  and  we  must  assume  that  it 
was  in  common  use  among  the  Jews  down  to  the  second  century 
B.c.t  In  a  word,  if  for  the  name  Yahweh  we  substitute  "  God," 
there  is  not  a  paragraph  or  a  sentence  in  Proverbs  which  would 
not  be  as  suitable  for  any  other  people  as  for  Israel.  This  non- 
national  form  of  thought  belongs  to  a  sort  of  culture  which  did 
not  exist  among  the  Jews  till  they  were  scattered  throughout  the 
world  and  came  under  Persian  and  Greek  influence. 

The  social  life  depicted  in  Proverbs  does  not  bear  the  marks  of 


*  Zech.  1-8  and  Malachi  bring  no  accusation  of  polytheism  against  their  contem- 
poraries ;  perhaps  idolatry,  held  under  in  the  period  of  reconstruction,  showed 
itself  at  the  later  time  represented  by  Zech.  132.  It  could  not,  however,  have  been 
very  prominent  or  dangerous  after  the  exile. 

t  When  the  Jews  began  to  give  up  the  utterance  of  the  name  Yahweh,  and  to 
substitute  for  it  Adonay  and  other  terms,  is  uncertain. 


XXll  INTRODUCTION 

Old  Israel.  While  polygamy  is  recognized  as  legal  or  is  assumed 
in  an  exilian  code  (Lev.  18^''),  here  monogamy  is  taken  for 
granted.  Agricultural  pursuits  are  mentioned  {j^  al.),  but  the 
chief  attention  is  given  to  city  life  with  its  special  occupations  and 
temptations  (see  §  5).  There  are  numerous  and  emphatic  warn- 
ings against  malicious  gossip,  going  security,  greed  of  money,  noc- 
turnal robbery,  murder,  and  unchastity  —  vices  and  faults  which, 
though  possible  in  any  tolerably  organized  community,  were  spe- 
cially prominent  in  the  postexilian  cities  ;  on  the  last-named  vice, 
to  which  so  much  space  is  given  in  chs.  1-9,  see  notes  on  2'"  5''  al. 
The  system  of  education  assumed  as  existing  is  of  a  much  more 
advanced  sort  than  that  indicated  in  Dt.  6.  The  frequent  men- 
tion of  kings  as  a  class  in  the  world,  and  as  persons  whom  the 
private  citizen  might  meet  socially  (see  23^-^,  and  other  references 
in  §  5),  belongs  to  an  order  of  things  foreign  to  the  older  life  (cf. 
Dt.  17^**"-"  Isa.  11^"^  al.)  ;  the  best  commentary  on  it  is  found  in 
the  pictures  of  royal  life  given  in  Josephus  and  similar  histories. 

The  philosophical  conceptions  referred  to  above  (§5,  C)  are 
out  of  place  in  any  preexilian  century  or  during  the  exile.  They 
manifestly  belong  to  the  time  when  the  Jews  came  into  close  intel- 
lectual contact  with  the  non-Semitic  world.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  they  were  derived  from  Persia,  but  this  is  hardly  probable  if 
we  may  judge  from  the  extant  Persian  sacred  books :  wisdom 
plays  no  such  prominent  part  in  the  Avesta  as  it  plays  in  Proverbs ; 
in  the  Gathas,  it  is  true,  various  quahties  are  personified,  but 
among  these  it  is  wisdom  to  which  least  importance  is  attached, 
and  the  Avesta  is  in  general  more  ecclesiastical  than  philosophical. 
In  the  West*  it  is  only  in  Greece  that  we  find  that  identification 
of  knowledge  and  virtue  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Jewish 
Wisdom  literature  —  a  trait  which  in  Proverbs  is  especially  prom- 
inent in  chs.  1-9,  but  appears  also  throughout  the  Book.  The 
Jews  seem  not  to  have  become  acquainted  with  Greek  philosophy 
before  the  conquest  of  Alexander. 

3.  The  same  date  (postexilian)  is  indicated  by  the  use  of  the 
terms  "wisdom  "  and  "  wise  "  in  OT.     More  than  half  of  the  oc- 

*  The  Indian  systems  may  be  left  out  of  consideration ;  there  is  no  good  histor- 
ical ground  for  supposing  a  Hindoo  influence  on  Western  Asia  as  early  as  the 
third  century  B.C. 


ORIGIN   AND    DATE  xxiii 

currences  of  these  terms  are  found  in  the  Wisdom  books,  and  in 
the  other  books  (except  in  half  a  dozen  passages  in  late  reflective 
psalms)  no  philosophical  sense  attaches  to  them.  In  the  histor- 
ical and  Prophetical  writings  they  refer  to  mechanical  or  artistic 
skill  (Ex.  35^"  Isa.  40-°  i  Chr.  22''),  cleverness  in  ordinary  affairs 
(2  Sam.  13^  14^),  political  sagacity  (Gen,  41''^  Dt.  i^^  Isa.  3"  19" 
Jer.  8^  Ez.  27*  28*  Esth.  i"),  magical  or  prophetic  knowledge 
(Ex.  7'^  Dan.  5"),  or  general  intelligence  (Hos.  i4''"^°>  Isa.  11-). 
In  Proverbs  and  the  other  Wisdom  books  they  relate  to  a  definite 
class  of  sages  whose  function  is  the  pursuit  of  universal  moral  and 
religious  wisdom  —  men  who,  unlike  the  prophets,  lay  no  claim  to 
supernatural  inspiration,  but  make  their  appeal  simply  to  human 
reason.  In  at  least  one  passage  of  the  later  preexiHan  time  (Jer. 
^23(22)^  there  is  the  suggestion  that  the  ethical  prophets  looked 
with  suspicion  on  the  contemporary  "  wise  men,"  whose  wisdom 
appears  to  be  contrasted  with  the  true  ethical  knowledge  of  Yah- 
weh ;  but  in  Proverbs  the  sages  present  themselves  as  legitimate 
and  competent  teachers  of  this  knowledge.  There  occurred,  ob- 
viously, a  noteworthy  change  in  the  character  and  position  of  the 
wise  men,  and  the  change  could  have  taken  place  only  after  the 
exile. 

Confirmation  of  this  view  may  be  obtained  from  the  considera- 
tion of  the  unity  of  the  group  of  Wisdom  books  {Job,  Proverbs, 
Ben-Sira,  Ecclesiastes,  Wisdom  of  Solomoii).  All  these  books, 
though  there  are  differences  among  them,  are  substantially  iden- 
tical each  with  the  others  in  their  philosophical  points  of  view  and 
in  their  ethical  codes.  They  have  the  same  conception  of  wisdom, 
and,  if  we  omit  Job,  they  portray  the  same  general  condition  of 
society.  The  similarity  between  Proverbs  and  Ben-Sira  is  espe- 
cially striking.*  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  similarity  is  due  in 
part  to  borrowing  (though  it  may  be  equally  well  accounted  for 
by  supposing  that  the  two  books  drew  material  from  the  same 
sources,  and  BS.  has  not  the  tone  of  an  imitator)  ;  but  in  that 
case  the  fact  that   Ben-Sira  imitated  Proverbs  rather  than  the 

*  The  most  notable  difference  between  the  two  books  is  the  nationalistic  con- 
ception of  wisdom  in  one  passage  of  the  latter  (ch.  24) ;  but  this  does  not  impair 
the  general  similarity  between  them.  BS.  24-3  (which  in  its  present  form  appears 
to  identify  wisdom  with  the  Tora)  is  possibly  a  gloss. 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION 

Prophetical  books  suggests  that  his  affinities,  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious,  were  with  the  sages,  and  that  he  belonged  to  their 
period.  When  we  consider  the  uniqueness  of  the  Wisdom  group 
and  the  substantial  mutual  identity  of  the  books  composing  it,  it 
is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  they  all  sprang  from  one 
intellectual  and  religious  tendency,  and  that  they  belong  to  the 
same  cultural  period.  Three  of  them  {BS.,  EccL,  IVS.)  are  cer- 
tainly of  the  second  and  first  centuries  B.C.,  and  the  other  two 
cannot  be  very  far  removed  in  time. 

4.  It  may  be  possible  to  obtain  a  more  definite  date  for  Prov- 
erbs by  comparing  the  Wisdom  books  one  with  another.  A  two- 
fold division  of  these  books  may  be  made,  according  to  the  point 
of  comparison.  In  regard  to  speculative  thought  they  fall  into 
two  sub-groups  :  Job,  EccL,  IVS.,  discuss  the  question  of  the  justice 
of  the  divine  government  of  the  world ;  Prov.  and  BS.  ignore  this 
question.  In  regard  to  literary  form  and  general  religious  tone 
there  are  the  sub-groups  :  /ob,  Prov.,  BS.,  which  agree  in  rhyth- 
mical form,  in  the  conception  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  and 
in  the  view  of  the  future  life  ;  and  EccL,  IVS.,  which  depart  from 
the  old  literary  form,  and  attack  and  defend  the  new  doctrine  of 
immortality. 

Though  arguments  from  diction  have  to  be  used  with  great 
caution,  the  following  statement  of  the  occurrences  of  24  ethical 
terms  in  /ob,  Prov.,  and  EccL.  may  be  of  value,  it  being  borne  in 
mind  that  in  extent  the  three  books  are  to  one  another  about  as 
35  :  32  :  13.*  Of  the  terras  involving  the  idea  of  7visdom  the 
stem  DSPi  is  most  frequent  in  EccL.,  somewhat  less  so  in  Prov., 
much  less  m  Job ;  the  adj.  p3  is  found  9  times  in  Prov.,  once 
in  EccL.,  not  at  all  va.  Job ;  of  substantives  n^ia  {=  wisdom)  is 
peculiar  to  Prov.  (chs.  1-9)  ;  nJD  is  frequent  in  Prov.  (mostly 
in  I.),  much  less  frequent  in  Job,  wanting  in  EccL.;  nUT  is  com- 
mon in  Prov.,  much  less  common  in  EccL.,  still  less  in  Job  ;  ,l33n 
is  not  infrequent  in  Prov.,  rare  in  Job,  not  found  in  EccL.;  n^iU 
and  ,TC'n  (more  general  terms)  are  equally  common  in  Job  and 

*  It  would  be  desirable  to  include  Ben-Sira  in  the  comparison ;  but  this  will  not 
be  possible  till  we  have  more  of  its  Hebrew  text.  Cf.  the  list  of  Heb.  words  given 
in  Cowley  and  Neubauer's  Ecclesiastlcus  (BS.  39'5-49'ii) ;  the  list,  however,  needs 
revision.    Ben-Sira  appears  to  contain  more  late  words  than  Proverbs. 


ORIGIN   AND   DATE  XXV 

Prov.,  and  are  lacking  in  Eccl.  Of  words  expressing  folly  Sc3  is 
frequent  in  Prov.  and  EccL,  and  wanting  in  Job  ;  bix  is  common 
in  Prov.,  very  rare  in  Job,  lacking  in  EccL;  "ns  is  peculiar  to 
Prov.  The  verb  K'JPi  sin  occurs  8  times  in  the  poem  oi  Job, 
once  in  Ecci.,  not  at  all  in  Prov.,  the  participle  is  not  infrequent 
in  Ecc/.,  less  frequent  in  Prov.,  lacking  in  Job,  the  substantive  is 
about  equally  common  in  Job  and  Prov.,  and  is  wanting  in  Eccl. 
Of  terms  for  instruction  the  noun  nnsn  is  found  only  in  Prov., 
the  verb  of  this  stem  is  about  equally  common  in  Job  and  Prov., 
and  is  lacking  in  EccL;  the  stem  "iC  is  rare  in  Job,  frequent  in 
Prov.,  not  found  in  EccL  Of  words  signifying  way  in  the  sense 
of  conduct  bJUfa  occurs  only  in  Prov.,  "["in  is  common  in  Job  and 
Prov.  and  rare  in  EccL,  while  rnK  and  ran3,  about  equally  com- 
mon in  Job  and  Prov.,  are  lacking  in  Eccl.  The  terms  "icn  and 
fn,  kindness  and  favor,  are  not  uncommon  in  Prov.,  but  the  first 
is  rare  in  y<?(5  and  wanting  in  EccL,  while  the  second  is  rare  in 
Eccl.  and  wanting  in  Job.  TV\1'Q  command  is  found  lo  times  in 
Prov.,  twice  in  EccL,  once  in  Job,  but  /era  ii  times  in  Prov.,  once 
in  Job,  and  not  at  all  in  EccL  Words  =  ethically  crooked  do  not 
occur  in  Eccl. ;  t'py  is  common  and  'rnsj  rare  in  Prov.,  and  both 
terms  are  very  rare  in  Job  (on  the  other  hand  mi',  found  several 
times  in  Job,  does  not  occur  in  Prov.  and  EccL).  It  will  be  ob- 
served that,  so  far  as  this  list  goes,  Eccl.  is  nearer  than  Job  to 
Prov.  in  certain  terms  of  the  more  strictly  scientific  vocabulary 
(nsn,  naan,  pJ,  nui,  bcD,  K'tSh),  in  general  avoiding  terms  that 
have  a  religious,  ecclesiastical,  or  hortatory  coloring ;  Job,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  nearer  Pro7>.  in  the  diction  which  the  latter  shares 
with  the  Psalter.  We  may  thence  probably  infer  that  the  philo- 
sophical conception  of  wisdom  is  less  developed  in  Job  than  in 
Proverbs,  and  that  the  former  book  is  earlier  than  the  latter.  The 
same  conclusion  seems  to  be  suggested  by  a  comparison  of  the 
representation  of  wisdom  in  Job  28  (in  which  wisdom  is  said  to 
be  undiscoverable  by  man,  but  is  identified,  as  is  also  often  done 
in  Prov.,  with  obedience  to  God)  with  that  in  Pr.  8  (in  which 
wisdom  is  almost  identified  with  God  himself).* 


*  For  the  opposite  view  see  Budde's  Hiob,  Einleitung.     Some  critics  regard  v.28 
of  Job  28  as  an  editorial  addition ;  the  excision  of  this  verse  will  not  materially 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION 

The  general  inference  from  these  considerations  is  that  most  of 
Proverbs  stands  in  time  between  Job  and  Ben-Sira.  The  date 
of  the  latter  book  is  about  B.C.  190.  For  Job  the  similarity  be- 
tween its  historical  milieu  and  that  of  Isa.  53  Mai.  3"-^'  suggests  a 
time  not  earlier  than  c.  b.c.  400,  and  the  non-national  and  specu- 
lative tone  of  the  book  points  to  a  date  fifty  or  a  hundred  years 
still  later.*  We  thus  have  c.  B.C.  300  as  the  upper  limit  for  Prov- 
erbs ;  for  the  lower  limit  see  the  following  paragraph.  In  this 
statement  of  the  relation  between  Job  and  Proverbs  there  is  one 
point  that  may  seem  to  make  a  difficulty.  It  is  held  by  some 
critics  that  the  sceptical  tone  of  the  former  must  belong  to  a  later 
period  than  the  calm  unspeculative  attitude  of  the  latter,  which 
accords  with  the  position  of  Job's  Friends.  But  this  point,  very 
interesting  in  its  suggestions,  seems  not  to  be  decisive  for  the 
chronological  relation  of  the  two  books.  It  is  obvious,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  Malachi  that  the  sceptical  movement  began  as  early 
as  B.C.  400,t  and,  on  the  other  hand,  from  Ben-Sira  it  is  no  less 
obvious  that  the  unsceptical  attitude  was  retained  as  late  as 
B.C.  200.  What  we  have  to  conclude,  therefore,  is  that  the  two 
points  of  view  continued  to  be  held  side  by  side  for  a  consider- 
able period,  and  it  is  perhaps  an  accident  that  we  have  only  hints 
of  scepticism  (as,  for  example,  in  Agur)  between  Job  and  Eccle- 
siastes.  And  that  there  was  a  continuous  development  of  scepti- 
cal thought  is  made  probable  by  a  comparison  of  the  tones  oi  Job 
and  Ecclesiastes~\ht  one  passionate  and  profoundly  religious, 
the  other  indifferent  and  feebly  religious  ;  these  different  phases 
appear  to  indicate  widely  different  periods  of  culture.  The  differ- 
ence between  Job  and  Proverbs  is  one  not  merely  of  time,  but  of 
point  of  view  as  well.  We  must  assume  that  the  Jewish  sages 
of  the  four  centuries  preceding  the  beginning  of  our  era  were  of 
two  general  classes,  the  one  content  to  consider  the  questions 
of  practical  everyday  life,  the  other  not  satisfied  with  anything 
less  than  a  solution  of  the  great  ethical  and  religious  question 


affect  the  view  above  expressed.    Job  28  is,  however,  now  out  of  place  and  inter- 
ruptive,  and  may  well  belong  in  the  same  period  with  Pr.  1-9. 

*  On  the  date  of  Job  cf.  the  commentaries  of  Davidson  and  Budde,  and  the 
articles  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  cf  the  Bible,  Cheyne's  Cyclopaedia  Biblica,  and 
Herzog3.  t  And  cf.  Jer.  12I  20'. 


ORIGIN   AND   DATE  xxvii 

of  the  world  —  the  question  of  the  justice  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment of  men.  The  first  line  is  continued  in  Proverbs,  certain 
psalms,  and  Ben-Sira,  the  second  in  Job,  certain  psalms,  Eccles., 
and  Wisd.  of  Solomofi.  In  these  parallel  lines  the  chronological 
relations  of  the  various  writings  may  be  measurably  determined  by 
such  considerations  as  are  presented  above. 

5,  It  remains  to  ask  whether  the  internal  indications  enable  us  to 
fix  the  chronological  order  of  the  various  parts  of  the  Book.  There 
is  an  obvious  division  into  three  parts,  I.,  II.-IV,,  and  V.,  and  of 
these  the  central  part  appears  to  form  the  kernel  of  the  Book. 

a.  Taking  first  this  central  part,  we  may  begin  by  separating 
III.  (22^^-24),  which  clearly  differs  from  its  context.  It  consists 
of  quatrains,  with  synonymous  parallelism,  which,  form  short  horta- 
tory discourses.  It  assumes  a  system  of  instruction  by  sages,  and  is 
marked  by  ethical  inwardness  and  depth.  It  indicates,  therefore, 
an  advanced  stage  of  reflection  and  teaching.  In  its  rhythmical 
and  strophic  form  it  resembles  Ben-Sira.  Its  two  parts,  22'^- 
24-^  and  24^^^^,  though  separate  collections,  are  so  nearly  akin  in 
form  and  thought  that  they  must  be  considered  to  be  products 
of  the  same  period  and  the  same  circle  of  sages. 

b.  The  remainder  of  the  central  part  is  composed  of  two  sorts 
of  aphorisms,  i.  In  chs.  10-15  ^"^^  half  of  chs.  28.  29  we  find  an- 
titheses, restrained  and  lapidary  in  style,  expressing  general  moral 
sentiments,  with  frequent  mention  of  the  divine  name  and  of  the 
terms  "  righteous  "  and  "  wicked."  2.  In  chs.  16-22^'' 25-27  and 
half  of  chs.  28.  29  there  is  a  predominant  employment  of  compari- 
sons and  other  single  sentences,  the  style  is  more  flowing  than  in 
the  first  group  (10-15,  etc.),  the  material  is  more  varied,  and 
there  is  much  less  frequent  use  of  the  terms  above-mentioned. 

The  question  of  chronological  priority  between  these  two  sorts 
of  aphorism  is  not  easy  to  decide.  The  compressed  and  vigorous 
antithesis  may  seem  to  different  persons  to  be  earlier  or  later  than 
the  more  flowing  form.  It  is  probable  that  the  two  do  not  stand 
far  apart  in  time,  but  the  more  human  and  pointed  tone  of  the 
second  group  accords  more  closely  with  the  style  of  Ben-Sira* 

*  It  is  this  fresh  picturesqueness  that  has  given  us  a  number  of  household  words 
from  chs.  25-29  (Davidson),  but  this  characteristic  does  not  in  itself  indicate  great 
antiquity. 


XXVni  INTRODUCTION 

This  analysis  indicates  that  there  once  existed  various  small 
bodies  of  aphorisms  (in  oral  or  written  form),  and  that  these  were 
variously  combined  into  small  books.  They  were  all  the  products 
of  cultivated  ethical  reflection,  though  part  of  their  material  was 
doubtless  old.  Thus  the  sub-section  chs.  10-15  appears  to  have 
been  a  separate  book  of  antitheses,  and  a  similar  work  was  used 
by  the  compiler  of  chs.  28.  29,  and,  more  sparingly,  by  other 
editors.  We  have  another  aphoristic  book  in  16-22'",  and  still 
another  in  chs.  25-27  and  parts  of  chs.  28.  29.  From  portions  of 
these  works  an  editor  compiled  our  section  io'-2  2^'',  and  from 
other  portions  the  section  chs.  25-29  was  independently  put 
together.  All  this  material  was  regarded  by  the  tradition  as 
Solomonic,  and,  when  the  sections  were  combined,  the  editor, 
aware  of  a  difference,  referred  the  formation  of  the  second  to  the 
scholars  of  Hezekiah's  time  (see  note  on  25^).  This  statement 
of  the  editor  proves  not  the  chronological  priority  of  10^-22'®, 
but  only  that  this  latter  collection  was  made  before  the  other. 
Smaller  collections,  such  as  the  Book  of  Fools  (in  26'"'-)  are 
referred  to  in  the  notes,  and  are  further  indicated  in  the  lists  of 
repetitions  given  in  §  3.  Throughout  the  central  part  (chs.  10- 
29)  the  marks  of  editorial  hands  are  visible. 

c.  The  first  main  division  of  the  Book  (chs.  1-9,  except  6^"^ 
9^"^^)  appears  to  be  later  than  the  central  part.  Such  later  date  is 
suggested  by  its  precise  pedagogic  form,  its  philosophic  concep- 
tions (ch.  8),  and  the  prominence  it  gives  to  certain  sins  (robbery 
and  unchastity).  The  question  might  be  raised  whether  the  sec- 
tion is  a  unit  —  whether  it  does  not  divide  itself  naturally  into  two 
parts,  one  (ch.  8  and  parts  of  chs.  3.  4)  philosophical  and  specula- 
tive, the  other  hortatory  and  practical.  There  is,  no  doubt,  such  a 
difference  in  the  contents,  but  it  is  hardly  of  a  sort  to  indicate 
duality  of  authorship  :  the  general  conception  of  wisdom  is  the 
same  throughout,  and  the  practical  hortatory  tone  is  not  confined 
to  the  distinctively  pedagogic  paragraphs.  The  relation  between 
the  section  and  the  Book  of  Job  has  already  been  referred  to. 
The  two  have  the  same  rhythmic  form  (synonymous  parallelism, 
and  frequency  of  quatrain  arrangement)  ;  but  a  similar  agreement 
exists  between  Proverbs,  many  psalms,  and  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
and  is  of  no  use  for  the  determination  of  relative  priority  in  time 


ORIGIN   AND   DATE  Xxix 

between  these  books.  The  fact  that  the  pessimism  of  Job  is  not 
found  in  Proverbs  is  referred  to  above  (in  paragraph  4  of  §  6).- 
It  is  held  by  some  critics  that  in  Job  15'  there  is  a  direct  allusion 
to  Prov.  S""^',  that  Eliphaz  asks  Job  whether  he  is  the  personified 
Wisdom  there  described.*  But  this  view  rests  on  an  improbable 
interpretation  of  the  couplet.  In  the  first  line  Eliphaz  asks 
whether  Job  was  the  first  man  created,  assuming,  apparently,  that 
the  first  man  stood  very  near  the  counsels  of  God  and  was  en- 
dowed with  special  wisdom  (cf.  v.*)  The  parallelism  (synonymous 
throughout  the  chapter)  suggests  that  the  second  line  is  identical 
in  meaning  with  the  first,  and  that  the  expression  "  before  the 
hills"  is  a  rhetorical  synonym  of  "in  hoar  antiquity."  Or,  if  the 
two  lines  be  not  mutually  equivalent,  the  second  must  be  regarded 
as  a  heightening  of  the  first,  with  more  cutting  sarcasm  :  "  were 
you  created  first  of  men?  or,  forsooth,  before  the  world?"  There 
is  no  obvious  allusion  to  a  primeval  Wisdom,  or  to  any  cosmogonic 
history  (and  v.*  relates  not  to  the  past,  but  to  the  speaker's  pres- 
ent). Finally,  even  if  the  second  line  be  supposed  to  refer  to  the 
same  fact  that  is  mentioned  in  Prov.  8-',  it  does  not  appear  why 
Job,  rather  than  Proverbs,  should  be  considered  the  borrower ; 
the  conception  in  the  latter  book  is  certainly  the  more  highly 
developed.  And,  in  general,  the  conception  of  wisdom  seems  to 
be  more  developed  in  Prov.  1-9  than  in  Job ;  in  the  latter  book 
(omitting  ch.  28,  which,  on  exegetical  grounds,  is  probably  to  be 
regarded  as  an  interpolation)  wisdom  is  the  reflection  of  sages, 
handed  down  orally,  on  one  great  question  —  a  question  which 
has  its  roots  in  the  Prophetic  writings  ;  in  Prov.  1-9  wisdom  is 
the  guide  of  life,  with  organized  instruction,  and  in  one  passage 
(ch.  8)  there  is  a  philosophical  personification  which  approaches 
nearer  to  WS.  7  than  to  Job  28.t     Cf.  notes  on  30^ 

The  paragraphs  6^"^  6*^"  9''"^  belong  partly  in  the  same  category 
with  III.,  partly  with  V. 

*  So  Ewald,  Davidson,  Budde,  al.     The  couplet  in  Job  reads 

Wert  thou  the  first  man  born? 
Wert  brought  forth  before  the  hills? 

tCf.  Seyring,  Die  Abhangigkeit  d.  Spr.  Sal.  Cap.  I.-IX.,  etc.,  1880;  Strack,  in 
Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1896 ;  Wildeboer,  Litt.  d.  A  T. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION 

d.  Chs.  30.  31,  a  collection  of  unconnected  fragments,  have  the 
appearance  of  an  appendix.  The  cool  agnosticism  of  Agar  re- 
minds us  of  Koheleth  rather  than  oi  Job.  The  artificial  tetradic 
form  is  probably  late ;  see  note  on  30"  ff.  The  terms  wise  and 
wisdom  either  relate  to  common-sense  sagacity  (30-*  31^^),  or  when 
they  denote  philosophical  depth,  are  treated  with  contempt  (30''). 
On  the  strange  titles  in  30^  31^  see  notes  on  these  verses. 

The  history  of  the  formation  of  the  Book  appears  to  be  some- 
what as  follows  :  Out  of  certain  current  collections  of  aphorisms 
were  first  put  together  our  subsections  chs.  10-15,  16-22^'',  25-27, 
and  28.  29,  and  from  these  by  different  editors  the  sections  10-22'" 
and  25-29  were  made,  the  editor  of  the  latter  being  aware  of  the 
existence  of  the  former.*  The  two  may  have  received  substan- 
tially their  present  form  between  B.C.  350  and  B.C.  300,  the  second 
a  little  later  than  the  first.  During  the  next  half-century  the  sec- 
tion III.  (22^'-24)  was  produced,  and  a  book  of  aphorisms  was 
formed  by  combining  II.  and  IV.  and  inserting  III.  between  them  ; 
it  is  not  apparent  how  this  position  came  to  be  assigned  III.,  but, 
as  25'  ("these  also  are  proverbs  of  Solomon")  seems  to  presup- 
pose 10^  ("proverbs  of  Solomon"),  and  III.  is  referred  not  to 
Solomon  but  to  the  "  sages,"  it  is  likely  that  it  was  added  after  II. 
and  IV.  had  been  combined ;  it  is  possible,  however,  that  it  was 
first  attached  to  II.,  the  collection  IV.,  with  its  title  unchanged, 
being  then  added.  The  opening  section  (omitting  6^"'^  9'"^^)  may 
have  been  composed  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  B.C., 
and  was  combined  by  its  author  (or  by  some  contemporary  editor) 
with  II.-IV. ;  the  introduction  (i^"')  is  couched  in  the  technical 
terms  of  the  schools,  and  is  probably  the  work  of  the  author  of 
the  section;  he  seems  also  to  have  prefixed  the  general  title  (i'). 
The  additions  to  the  section  (6'"""  9''''"),  which  resemble  III.,  V., 
and  II.,  may  be  due  to  the  final  redactor,  or  to  a  very  late  scribe. 
Finally  the  work  was  completed  by  the  addition  of  the  fragments 
contained  in  chs.  30,  31,  the  completion  felling  in  the  second 
century  b.c.  Succeeding  copyists  introduced  into  the  text  a  num- 
ber of  errors,  not  only  in  words  and  phrases  but  also  in  arrange- 
ment of  lines  and  couplets. 

*  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  title  in  25I  was  inserted  by  the  final  redactor. 


TEXT   AND   VERSIONS  XXxi 

6.  The  linguistic  phenomena  of  the  Book  are  in  accord  with 
these  dates  :  while  the  style,  especially  in  the  earlier  parts,  does 
not  differ  substantially  from  that  of  the  "  classic  "  period  (which 
may  be  taken  to  include  centuries  8-5  B.C.),  there  are  passages, 
chiefly  in  the  later  parts,  which  show  a  nearer  approach  to  the 
later  usage.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  of  course,  that  the  vocabu- 
lary and  syntax  are  probably  to  some  extent  affected  by  the  nature 
of  the  material :  in  such  a  work  there  would  naturally  be  a  large 
number  of  philosophical  terms,  and  the  more  popular  aphorisms 
would  use  words  which,  though  not  new,  might  not  be  found  else- 
where.* Such  expressions  may  characterize  the  individual  style 
of  the  Book,  but  do  not  determine  its  date.  It  is  to  be  noted  also 
that  a  certain  number  of  peculiarities  are  to  be  set  down  as  scribal 
errors.  These  deductions  being  made,  there  still  remains  a  small 
number  of  expressions  which  appear  to  belong  to  the  later  usage. 
Some  of  these  (as  "12  in  31^)  are  Aramaisms,  others  are  late- 
Hebrew  ;  reference  is  made  to  these  in  the  critical  notes.  Ben- 
Sira,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  part  of  its  Hebrew  text 
which  we  have  (chs.  39'^-49"),  contains  a  greater  number  of  late 
expressions  than  Proverbs  —  a  fact  which  we  might  expect  from 
its  later  date  and  its  fuller  and  freer  treatment  of  matters  of  every- 
day life.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  Arabisms  occur  in  Proverbs  ; 
the  words  which  have  been  so  explained  may  all  be  otherwise 
.satisfactorily  accounted  for.     There  are  no  Persian  or  Greek  words. 

§  7.   Text  and  Versions. 

I.  The  text  is  not  in  good  condition  ;  errors  are  more  frequent 
in  II.-V.  than  in  I.,  the  simple  style  of  the  latter  having  saved  it 
to  some  extent  from  scribal  misunderstandings  and  misrepresenta- 
tions. The  mistakes  are  to  be  set  down  partly  to  the  ignorance 
of  copyists,  partly  to  the  freedom  which  they  allowed  themselves 
in  dealing  with  this  book  as  with  other  OT.  books  ;  we  find  much 
the  same  state  of  things  in  Samuel,  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Psalms. 
It  does  not  appear  that  changes  were  made  in  Proverbs  in  the 
interests  of  theological  opinion  or  from  a  sense  of  propriety  or  de- 

*  This  is  the  case  with  most  of  the  words  mentioned  as  rare  in  Driver's  Introd. 
to  Lit.  of  O  T. 


XXXll  INTRODUCTION 

cency  {causa  Jionoris,  c.  reverentiae,  etc.).*  Such  changes  were 
made  in  other  OT.  books  ;  the  immunity  of  Proverbs  is  due  in 
part  to  its  untheological  character,  in  part  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
looked  on  as  less  sacred  and  authoritative  than  the  Pentateuch 
and  the  Prophetic  writings. 

2.  The  extant  Ancient  Versions  of  Proverbs  are  the  Septuagint 
(from  which  were  made  the  Coptic  and  the  Hexaplar  Syriac),  the 
Peshitta  Syriac,  the  Targum,  fragments  of  the  later  Greek  transla- 
tions (Aquila,  Symmachus,  Theodotion,  etc.),  and  the  Latin  of 
Jerome. 

Of  these  the  oldest  and,  for  the  criticism  of  the  text,  the  most 
valuable  is  the  Septuagint.  It  represents  in  general  an  older  text 
than  that  of  the  received  Hebrew  tradition  ;  f  but  its  value  as  a 
presentation  of  the  old  Jewish  aphoristic  thought  and  as  a  critical 
instrument  is  impaired  by  the  corruptions  it  has  suffered  and  by 
certain  peculiarities  in  the  mode  of  translation.  In  a  number  of 
cases  it  offers  good  suggestions  for  the  restoration  of  the  original 
Hebrew.  In  not  a  few  instances  the  translator  does  not  under- 
stand the  Hebrew.  \  He  sometimes  departs  from  the  literal 
rendering  in  order  to  give  the  translation  a  smoother  and  more 
idiomatic  Greek  form,  §  sometimes  also  in  order  to  obtain  a  better 
antithesis  or  a  more  appropriate  thought.  Possibly  he  is  some- 
times influenced  by  the  desire  to  reproduce  the  later  Pharisaic 
orthodoxy, II  but  this  is  not  clear;  there  is  no  trace  of  distinctively 
Christian  ideas.  The  Greek  book  is  somewhat  longer  than  the 
Hebrew  :  some  Hebrew  couplets  and  lines  it  omits,  but  it  includes 
much  that  the  Hebrew  text  has  not.  The  omissions  usually  indi- 
cate a  Hebrew  scribal  plus.     The  additions  are  sometimes  in  the 

*  Geiger,  Urschrift,  pp.  378,  400,  403,  finds  an  example  of  such  change  in  7I8, 
and  Hitzig  in  3081,  on  which  see  critical  notes. 

t  The  translation  may  have  been  made  as  early  as  100  B.C. 

X  Such  ignorance  is  found  abundantly  elsewhere  in  the  Septuagint,  but  is  here 
especially  obvious  —  a  fact  which  may  be  due  in  part  (as  Frankenberg  suggests)  to 
the  absence  of  a  good  exegetical  tradition ;  Proverbs  was  not  so  much  read  and 
commented  on  as  some  other  books.  It  is  not  certain  that  one  man  translated  the 
whole  of  Proverbs. 

§  Cf.  Jager,  Observations  in  Prov.  Sal.  vers,  alex.,  1788.  This,  however,  hardly 
warrants  us  in  supposing  (Frankenberg)  that  the  translation  was  made  for  a  non- 
Jewish  public. 

II  This  hypothesis  is  carried  to  excess  by  Heidenheim. 


TEXT   AND   VERSIONS  XXxiii 

form  of  doublets,  but  oftener  contain  entirely  new  matter,  which 
the  Greek  translator  has  either  himself  composed,  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  has  inserted  from  current  collections  of  proverbs.  They 
appear  sometimes  to  be  based  on  a  Hebrew  original,  sometimes  to 
have  been  written  originally  in  Greek.  There  is  rarely  ground  for 
supposing  of  any  one  of  them  that  it  formed  part  of  the  original 
Book  of  Proverbs ;  but  they  show  that  our  Hebrew  Book  is  only 
a  selection  out  of  a  great  mass  of  material  then  current,  and  they 
thus  corroborate  the  view  of  date  given  above.  An  unsettled  con- 
dition of  the  early  Hebrew  MSS.  of  Proverbs  is  possibly  indicated 
by  the  Septuagint  order  of  sub-sections  in  HI.,  IV.,  V.,  which  (if 
we  designate  the  chapters  as  in  the  Hebrew)  are  arranged  thus  : 
221^-24--;  30^-1*;  24="-^^;  30^^-^;  31^-^  25-29;  3110-31.*  From 
the  point  of  view  of  similarity  of  material  this  arrangement  is 
manifestly  inferior  to  that  of  our  Hebrew  text  —  it  breaks  up  IH. 
and  ch.  31  by  the  interposition  of  alien  matter,  and  places  IV.  far 
from  its  natural  connection.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  mal- 
arrangement  is  due  to  the  caprice  of  a  Greek  translator.f  The 
subsections  composing  III.-V.  must  once  have  circulated  as  sepa- 
rate treatises,  and  may  have  been  combined  in  different  ways  by 
Jewish  scribes  or  editors.  What  we  know  of  the  procedure  of 
Greek  translators  elsewhere  in  OT.  (for  example,  in  JeremiaJi) 
does  not  favor  the  supposition  that  they  acted  capriciously  in  this 
regard. 

The  Coptic  Version  is  useful  for  the  control  of  the  Greek.  It 
sometimes  offers  material  not  found  in  our  Greek  MSS. ;  all  such 
cases  must  be  judged  by  the  critical  rules  applied  to  the  Greek 
Version.  \ 

The  present  Peshitta  Syriac  text  of  Proverbs  has  a  perplexing 
mixture  of  readings,  agreeing  sometimes  with  |^  against  (@,  some- 
times with  (§  against  ^ ;  the  more  important  readings  are  given 
in  the  Critical  Notes.     As  it  follows  |^  in  general  in  material  and 

*  Cf.  the  Greek  arrangement  of  Jeremiah,  and  numbering  of  the  Psalms,  and 
the  modern  attempts  at  rearranging  Ecclesiastes. 

t  So  Strack  and  Frankenberg.  The  latter  observes  that  the  Greek  arrangement 
divides  the  latter  part  of  the  Book  into  two  Solomonic  collections,  with  only  two 
titles  (loi  25I).  This  may  have  been  the  principle  of  arrangement,  but  the  trans- 
lator may  have  found  it  in  his  Hebrew  manuscript. 

X  Cf.  Bickell,  who  makes  much  use  of  the  Coptic. 


XXXIV  INTRODUCTION 

arrangement,  it  is  probable  that  it  is  based  on  the  Hebrew ;  at 
the  same  time  we  know  too  little  of  the  history  of  Syriac  transla- 
tions to  be  able  to  say  whether  or  how  far  the  present  text  has 
been  corrected  from  the  Hebrew.  On  the  other  hand,  the  nature 
of  the  agreements  between  ,S  and  (3  favors  the  view  that  the  former 
has  in  certain  passages  followed  the  latter ;  whether,  in  that  case, 
this  rendering  from  the  Greek  was  the  work  of  the  original  Syriac 
translator  or  of  a  later  reviser  is  a  difficult  question,  though  the 
former  supposition  seems  the  more  probable.  If  we  add  to  all 
this  that  the  Syriac  translation  is  often  free,  it  is  obvious  that  it 
must  be  used  with  caution  in  the  criticism  of  the  Hebrew  or  the 
Greek.* 

The  Targum,  as  is  now  generally  held,  is  based  on  the  Syriac, 
though  in  a  number  of  cases  it  follows  the  Hebrew. 

Jerome  for  the  most  part  follows  the  Masoretic  text  closely,  and 
gives  little  material  for  getting  back  of  it.  Where  he  follows  the 
rendering  of  (§  or  inserts  from  it  couplets  which  are  not  in  ^,  he 
probably  retains  the  older  Latin  text,  which  was  made  from  the 
Greek.  He  represents  the  Jewish  exegesis  of  his  time,  but  is 
rarely  helpful  in  those  cases  in  which  the  Hebrew  is  peculiarly 
difficult  or  obscure. 

§  8.    Canonicity. 

According  to  Rabbinical  authorities  f  the  reception  of  the  Book 
into  the  Canon  was  for  a  time  opposed  on  the  ground  of  its  con- 
tradictory statements  (26'*-^)  and  its  too  highly  colored  descrip- 
tions (7^""*^).  The  latter  class  of  objections  seems  to  have  arisen 
early,  if  any  chronological  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  state- 
ment of  the  tradition  that  they  were  set  aside  by  the  "  men  of  the 
Great  Synagogue."  The  solution  of  the  question  appears  to  have 
been  found  in  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  passage  in  ch.  7. 
The  Talmud  says  nothing  of  any  difficulty  in  connection  with 
Agur.  The  doubts  concerning  Proverbs  soon  passed  away,  and 
its  value  was  universally  recognized.  It  is  quoted  or  used  in  NT. 
frequently  (over  twenty  times)  and  in  the  Talmud  (especially  in 

*  On  details  of  S  and  3C  see  J.  A.  Dathe,  1764,  in  Rosenmiiller's  Opuscula,  1814, 
Th.  Noldeke,  in  Arckiv  f.  wiss.  erforschung  d.  A  T.,  ii.,  and  Pinkuss'  articles  in 
ZATW.,  1894. 

t  Shab.  30  b,  Aboth  Nathan,  Cap.  L 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


XXXV 


Pirke  AbotJi),  is  cited  abundantly  by  the  early  Christian  writers, 
has  always  been  highly  esteemed  for  its  practical  wisdom,  and  a 
number  of  its  aphorisms  have  become  household  words. 


§  9.    Bibliography. 
On   Text  and  Versions. 


Procopius,  'EpiJ-euela. 

G.  J.  L.  VoGEL,  1768  (in  Schultens). 

J.  G.  Jager,  Observv.   in   Prov.  Sal. 

vers,  alexandrinam,  1788. 
J.  F.  ScHLEUSNER,  Opuscula,  i8i2,  and 

Lexicon'^,  1S29. 
P.    DE    Lagarde,    Anmerkungen    z. 

griech.  ueberscizung  d.  Proverbieii, 

1863. 
M.    Heidenheim,    Zur  textkritik   d. 

Proverbieii     (in     his     Vierteljahr- 

schrift),   1865,   1866. 
Dyserinck,    Kritische    Scholien    (in 

Theol.  Tijdschrifi),  1883. 
H.   Oort,   Spreuken    I.-IX.    (in    Th. 

Tijdschr.),   1885. 
A.  J.  Baumgartnek,  &tnde  critique  sur 


I'e/at  d.  tcxte  d.  livre  d.  Proverbes, 

1890. 
G.     BiCKELL,     Krit.     bearbeilung    d. 

Proverbieii  (in   IViener  Zeitschr.  f. 

d.  Kunde  d.  Morgenlnndes),  1891. 
M.    PiNKUSS,    Die    syrische    tieberset- 

ziing  d.  Proverbien  (in  ZAT^V.), 

1894. 
H.    Gi^TZ,    Exegei.    stndien    (in    his 

Afoiiatsschrijt),  1884,  and  Emenda- 

tioiies,  1 892- 1 894. 
E.  Nestle,  art.  Bibelilbersetzungen,  in 

Herzog's  Real-Encykl.^  (and   pub- 

hshed  separately). 

Remarks  on  text  in  commentaries 

of  Hitzig,  Ewald,  DeHtzsch,  Zockler, 

Nowack,  Wildeboer,  Frankenberg. 


Translations  and  Commentaries. 


Midrash  Mishle,  ed.  S.  Buber,  1893. 

Saauia's  version,  ed.  J.  Derenbourg, 
1894  (cf.  B.  Heller,  in  REJ.,  1S9S). 

Rashi,  Lat.  transl.  by  Breithaupt,  1714. 

Aben  Ezra,*  ed.  C.  M.  Horowitz,  1884. 
The  commentaries  of  Rashi,  Aben 
Ezra,  and  Levi  ben  Gersom  are  given 
also  in  A.  Giggeius'  In  Prov.  Sal. 
Comment,  iriuin  Rabbinorum,  1620, 
and  are  cited  in  L.  Cahen's  La  Bible, 
1847.  In  this  last  work  Leopold 
Dukes,  in  his  Introduction  to  Prov- 
erbs, gives  a  list  of  38  Jewish  com- 
mentators on  the  book,  beginning 
with  Saadia  (d.  942)  and  ending 
with  J.  Lciwenstein  (1837). 


H.  Deutsch,  Die  Spriiche  Sal.'s  nach 

d.  anffassung  iin    Talmud  it.  Mid- 

rasch   dargestellt   it.  kritisch  ttnter- 

sucht,  1885. 
J.  Mercerus,   Comm.   in  Sal.  Prov., 

etc.,  1573,  1651. 
M.  Geier,  Prov.  regzim  sapientissimi 

Sal.,  etc.,  1653,  1699,  1725. 
C.  B.  Michaelis  (in  J.  H.  Michaelis, 

Uberiores  annotationes  in  Hagiogr., 

etc.),  1720. 

A.  Schultens,  Prov.  Sal.,  etc.,  1748, 
and  abridged  ed.  by  G.  J.  L.  Vogel, 
1769. 

B.  Hodgson,  T/ie  Prov.  of  Sol.  transl., 
etc.,  1788. 


*  It  is  not  certain  that  this  work  is  by  Aben  Ezra;  it  may  be  by  Moses  Qamhi 
(Kimchi). 


XXXVl 


INTRODUCTION 


H.  EWALD,  in  his  Poet.  Biicher  \_Dich- 

ter\  d.  Alt.  Bmides,  1837,  1867. 
G.  R.  NOYES,  New  Translation  of  the 

Prov.,  etc.,  1846. 
M.  Stuart,   Comm.  on   the   Book  of 

Prov.,  etc.,  1852. 
F.  HiTZiG,  Die  Spriiche  Sal.'s   iibcr- 

setzt,  etc.,  1858. 
O.  ZoCKLER,  Comm.  zu  d.  Spr.  Sal. 

(in  Lange's  Bibelwerk),  1866  (Eng. 

transl.,  1870). 
H.  F.   MiJHLAU,  De  prov.   quae   di- 

cuntur  Aguri   et  Lemuelis  origine 

atque  indole,  1869. 
Franz  Delitzsch,  Das  Sal.  Spruch- 

buch,  1873  (Eng.  transl.  1875). 


E.  Reuss,  in  his  annotated  transl.  of 

the  Bible,  French  ed.  (ZLa  Bible"), 

1878,  Germ.  ed.   (^Das   Alt.   Test.), 

1894. 
W.    NowACK     (in    Kurzgef.    exeget. 

Hatidbuch  z.  AT.),  1883  (revision 

of  E.  Bertheau,  1847). 
H.  L.  Strack  (in  Strack  u.  Zockler's 

Knrzgef  Comm.  2.  AT.),  1888. 
R.  F.  Horton  (in  Expositor^  Bible), 

1891. 
G.  Wildeboer    (in    Marti's    Kurzer 

Ha7id-Comm.  2.  AT.),  1897. 
W.  Frankenberg  (in  Nowack's  Hand- 

komni.  z.  A  2'.),  1898, 


Genera/  Works. 


L.  Dukes,  Introduction  to  Proverbs  in 

Cahen,  La  Bible,  1847. 
J.   F.    Bruch,    IVeisheitslehre   d.   He- 

brder,  185 1. 
H.  Bois,  La  poesie  gnomique  chez  I. 

Llebreux  et  chez  I.  Grecs  —  Solomon 

et  Theognis,  1886. 
T.  K.  Cheyne,  in  Job  and  Solomon, 

1887. 


C.  G.  Montefiore,  Notes  upon  the 
date  and  religious  value  of  the  Book 
of  Prov.  (in  few.  Quart.  Rev.), 
1 889- 1 890. 

R.  Smend,  Aldestamentliche  religions- 
geschichte,  1893. 

R.  Pfeiffer,  Die  relig.-sittliche  Welt- 
anschauung d.  Buches  d.  Spriiche. 
1897. 


Proverbs  of  Other  Ancient  Peoples. 


Chinese:  F.  H.  Jenings,  Proverbial 
Philosophy  of  Confucius,  1895;  ^• 
Scarborough,  Chinese  Proverbs,!?)"]^. 

Egyptian  :  T.  L.  Griffith,  art.  Egyptian 
Literature,  in  Library  of  the  World'' s 
Best  Literature. 

Assyrian  :  M.  Jager,  Assyr.  Rathsel  u. 
Sprichivorter,  in  Beitrage  2.  Assyri- 
ologie,  1892. 

Lndian :  Bohtlingk,  Lnd.  Spriiche; 
Muir,  Sanskrit  Texts  ;  M.  Williams, 
Indian  Wisdom ;  P.  More,  Indian 
Epigrams,  1898  ;  C.  R.  Lanman, 
Indie  Epigrams,  1899  ;  see  also  the 


Hitopade^a,  the  Panchatantra,  and 
the  Jatakas. 

Greek:  For  the  aphorisms  which  go 
under  the  name  of  Menander  see  the 
collections  of  Meineke  and  Koch. 

Syrian :  The  so-called  Syriac  Menan- 
der is  given  in  Land,  Anecdota  Syr., 
I.;   cf.  ZATW.,  1895. 

As  a  Semitic  parallel  we  may  add 

Arabic:  Freytag,  Meidani;  Fleischer, 
AWs  Spriiche. 

See  also  L.  Dukes,  Blumenlese, 
and  his  Introduction  to  Proverbs  in 
Cahen,  La  Bible. 


A   COMMENTARY   ON    THE    BOOK   OF 
PROVERBS. 


A    COMMENTARY   ON    THE    BOOK   OF 
PROVERBS. 


I.     CHAPTERS   I.-IX. 

A  series  of  discourses  on  the  excellence  of  wisdom,  with  illus- 
trations of  its  principles  taken  from  everyday  life.  These  are 
preceded  by  a  general  introduction,  before  which  stands  a  general 
title.     On  the  date  and  origin  see  the  Introduction. 

I.  contains  the  title  (v.'),  an  introduction  (v.--^),  and  two 
discourses  (v.*-^^-^""^^). 

1.  Title.  —  The  proverbs  of  Solomon,  son  of  David,  king  of 
Israel.  The  title  king  of  Israel  belongs  to  Solomon.  On  the 
ascription  to  Solomon,  and  on  the  term,  proverbs  (Heb.  niishle)  as 
name  of  the  book,  see  the  Introduction.  The  title  was  probably  pre- 
fixed by  the  collector  of  I.,  or  by  the  editor  of  I.-IV.,  or,  possibly, 
by  the  last  compiler.  The  Heb.  word  mashal  {proverb)  probably 
signifies  similarity,  parallelism  (nearly  =  comparisori),  and  seems 
to  have  been  used  at  an  early  time  of  all  poetry,  hardly  with 
reference  to  the  form  (parallelism  of  clauses,  clause-rhythm,  being 
the  distinctive  formal  characteristic  of  old-Semitic  poetry),  but, 
probably,  with  reference  to  the  thought  (short  distiches  made  by 
the  juxtaposition  of  related  ideas,  originally  comparisons  with 
familiar  objects) ;  *  the  men  called  mashalists  (Nu.  2\")  appear, 
like  the  Greek  rhapsodists  and  the  Arabian  rawis,  to  have  been 
reciters  (doubtless  also  sometimes  composers)  of  narrative  and 
descriptive  poems.     There  is  no  one  English  equivalent  for  nia- 

*  There  is  no  OT.  word  iox poetry,  though  there  are  terms  for  various  species  of 
poetical  composition,  song,  etc.  On  the  late  Hebrew  terms  for  liturgical  poetry  and 
poets, /?y«Z',  paitaH  (ttoiiit^s),  see  Delitzsch,  Zur  Gesch.  d.  jildisch.  Pocsic,  pp.  49  ff. 

3 


4  PROVERBS 

shal —  it  seems  to  cover  the  whole  ground  of  Hebrew  poetry.  It 
may  signify  a  simple  folksaying  or  aphorism  (i  Sam.  lo^"  24^*'^^^ 
Ez.  \2^  18-),  an  allegory  (Ez.  17^),  an  enigmatical  saying  (Ez.  21°), 
a  byword  (Jer.  24^  Dt.  28^''),  a  taunting  speech  (Isa.  14*  Hab.  2^), 
a  lament  (Mic.  2^),  a  visional  or  apocalyptic  discourse  (Nu.  23" 
24^^),  a  didactic  discourse  (i/'49.  78),  an  argument  or  plea  (Job 
29^).*  In  the  Book  of  Proverbs  it  is  either  an  aphorism  (10-22) 
or  a  discourse  (1-9,  23^®^  27^^). 

2-7.  Preface  or  introduction,  stating  the  object  of  the  book, 
namely,  that  men  may  be  induced  to  accept  the  teaching  of 
wisdom.  —  The  structure  is  distichal,  with  synonymous  parallelism 
(except  V.').  The  thought  is  similar  to  that  of  22^'"-',  and  the 
preface,  like  the  title,  was  probably  prefixed  by  a  late,  perhaps  the 
latest,  editor ;  the  paragraph  is  syntactically  a  continuation  of  v}. 

2.  That  men  may  acquire  wisdom  and  training, 
May  understand  rational  discourse, 

3.  May  receive  training  in  wise  conduct  — 
In  justice  and  probity  and  rectitude, 

4.  That  discretion  may  be  given  to  the  inexperienced, 
To  the  youth  knowledge  and  insight. 

5.  Let  the  wise  man  hear  and  add  to  his  learning, 
And  the  man  of  intelligence  gain  education, 

6.  That  he  may  understand  proverb  and  parable, 
The  words  of  sages  and  their  aphorisms. 

7.  The  fear  of  Yahweh  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge  — 
Wisdom  and  discipline  fools  despise. 

As  the  Hebrew  text  stands  the  introduction  appears  to  consist 
of  two  parts,  the  statement  of  object  (^"^),  and  the  definition  of 
knowledge  (")  ;  and  the  former  divides  itself  into  a  general  refer- 
ence to  men  ("■^),  with  special  regard  to  the  immature  (^),  and  a 
particular  reference  to  the  wise  (^-  ^)  —  that  is,  the  work  is  said  to 
be  addressed  to  all  classes  of  intelligence.  The  definition  (') 
stands  by  itself,  being  of  the  nature  of  a  general  reflection,  an 
appendix  to  the  statement  of  object.  V.^  appears  to  be  a  pa- 
renthesis or  an  editorial  insertion  —  the  syntactical  construction 

*  Cf.  Delitzsch,  op.  cit.,  pp.  196  ff. 


I.  2  5 

here  changes  (to  be  resumed  in  v.^),  and  there  is  a  certain  incon- 
gruity in  bidding  a  sage  learn  to  understand  the  words  of  sages. 
If  these  two  couplets  be  omitted,  we  have  a  symmetrical  para- 
graph of  two  quatrains  :  -■^,  "  that  men  may  acquire  wisdom,"  and 
*-^,  "that  the  immature  may  be  educated  into  understanding  the 
discourses  of  the  sages." 

2-4.  The  general  object  of  the  book.  —  The  syntactical  con- 
nection with  v.^  is  close  :  f/ie  proverbs  of  Solomon  .  .  .  [whose 
object  is]  f/iaf  men  may  acquire,  etc.  —  2.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Lit. :  to  acquire  (or,  know),  etc.,  the  subject  of  the  Infinitive 
being  "  men  "  or  "  the  pupil."  The  parallel  expressions  are  prac- 
tically equivalent  in  meaning.  Wisdom  is  the  general  expression 
for  knowledge  of  all  good  things ;  it  is  practical  sagacity  (Ju.  5^ 
2  Sam.  13^  14^  20^"),  the  skill  of  the  artisan  (Ex.  31^),  wide 
acquaintance  with  facts  (i  K.  4-^^  [5^^^])>  learning  (Jer.  8^),  skill 
in  expounding  secret  things  (Ez.  28^),  statesmanship  (Jer.  18^*), 
and  finally,  knowledge  of  right  living  in  the  highest  sense.  This 
last  is  its  sense  here  —  moral  and  religious  intelligence.  It  ex- 
cludes not  only  the  morally  bad,  but  also  (in  contrast  with  Greek 
wisdom)  the  philosophically  speculative,  though,  in  parts  of  Prov- 
erbs, Ecclesiastes,  and  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  it  is  tinged  with  Greek 
philosophical  thought.  In  it  the  religious  element  is  practically 
identical  with  the  moral :  no  stress  is  laid  in  Proverbs  on  the 
ritualistic  side  of  life  (sacrifices,  vows),  the  devotional  (prayer, 
praise,  reading  sacred  books),  or  the  dogmatic  (monotheism,  sin, 
salvation)  ;  the  writers  of  chs.  1-9  and  of  the  whole  Book  are 
concerned  with  practical  affairs ;  the  law  of  God  is  for  them 
simply  the  moral  law.  —  The  second  term,  training,  discipline, 
(or,  instruction),  signifies  properly  the  fact  of  teaching,  educa- 
tion (sometimes  chastisement),  but  must  here  be  taken  to  mean 
the  result  of  right  teaching,  that  is,  wisdom ;  the  teacher  may  be 
God,  or  a  man  who  imparts  the  law  of  God.  Rational  discourse 
is  lit.  words  of  understanding;  this  last  term  =  "  discernment, 
comprehension,"  is  in  like  manner  identical  with  wisdom. — 
Man's  relation  to  wisdom  is  expressed  by  the  word  acquire  (lit. 
know  or  learn).  So  far  as  stress  is  thus  laid  on  intellectual 
recognition  of  right  as  the  basis  of  a  good  life  the  thought  of  our 


6  PROVERBS 

section  (and  of  the  whole  Book)  is  allied  to  the  Socratic-Stoic 
conception  of  morality.  The  OT.  term,  however,  like  the  Greek, 
expresses  more  than  bare  intellectual  recognition  —  it  involves 
intellectual  assimilation  and  practical  acceptance  of  truth  as  the 
rule  of  life;  see  Am.  3'''  Hos.  6^  13'  Isa.  i^  Jer.  14-"  Job  20"" 
\p  51''^^'^  Still,  knowledge  is  here  set  forth  as  the  foundation  of 
conduct,  that  is,  it  is  assumed  that  men  will  do  right  when  its 
nature  and  consequences  are  clearly  understood  by  them.  The 
conception  of  a  change  of  heart  is  not  found  in  Proverbs.  In  the 
second  clause  the  verb  understand  =  discern,  distinguish,  appre- 
hend, is  a  synonym  of  knoia.  —  3.  Ternary ;  line  2  is  the  defini- 
tion of  the  last  word  of  line  i.  The  element  of  assimilation  is 
expressed  in  the  term  receive  —  "  apprehend,  accept,  and  apply  as 
a  rule  of  life."  —  The  term  training  (or,  instruction^  is  usually 
defined  by  its  source  (v.®,  father,  3"  Yahweh),  but  here  by  its 
object  or  aim,  as  in  Isa.  53^  the  chastisement  of  \_—  which  should 
procure'^  our  peace.  The  aim  is  here  expressed  by  four  terms  (so 
RV.),  wise  co7iduct,  justice,  probity,  rectitude,  the  three  last  of 
which  are  better  taken  as  setting  forth  the  content  of  the  first. 
From  the  signification  of  these  words  they  cannot  be  understood 
as  objects  of  the  verb  receive  (Nowack,  Frankenberg),  or  as  ex- 
pressing the  content  of  the  term  instruction  (Delitzsch).  Kamp- 
hausen  *  renders  :  that  men  may  accept  instruction  that  makes 
wise  {klug),  righteousness  and  \_sense  of]  the  right  and  rectitude, 
taking  instruction  as  =  "  the  fact  of  teaching,"  and  leaving  it 
uncertain  whether  the  terms  in  the  second  clause  are  the  object 
of  receive  or  are  in  apposition  with  instruction.  Delitzsch  and 
Frankenberg,  not  so  well :  to  attain  intelligent  instruction. —  Wise 
conduct  is  action  which  springs  from  insight  and  sagacity,  in  ordi- 
nary affairs  (i  Sam.  i8"°  Gen.  48'^  3*'  Prov.  10'  I4'''-'  «/.),  and  espe- 
cially in  the  moral  and  religious  life  (Jer.  3''  \\j  119^^).  Such  action, 
in  its  best  sense,  is  controlled  by  moral  principle,  and  is  accordingly 
here  defined  by  several  synonymous  terms.  Justice  (RV.  righteous- 
ness) is  a  forensic  term,  expressing  the  quality  of  the  character 
and  action  of  that  one  of  the  two  parties  to  a  lawsuit  who  has  the 
right  on  his  side,  and  thus  comes  to  signify  right  conduct  in  gen- 


*  In  Kaiitzsch's  Heilige  Schrift. 


I.    2-5  7 

eral.  Probity  is  the  procedure  of  a  judge,  especially  legal  deci- 
sion (Ju.  4*  2  Sam.  15-)  or  custom  (i  Sam.  2"  lo-^),  law  (Dt.  4*), 
God's  acts  of  moral  government  in  the  world  (Isa,  26®  i/'i05"), 
then  general  conduct  in  accordance  with  legal  decision  (assumed 
to  be  morally  right)  whether  made  by  man  or  by  God.  Rectitude 
is  levelness,  straightness,  straightforwardness  of  conduct,  as  op- 
posed to  the  crooked  ways  of  those  who  abandon  the  guidance  of 
moral  truth.  These  three  words  are  variant  expressions  of  i-ecti- 
tude,  and  thus  define  the  content  of  the  general  term  wise  cojidiict. 
V.^  declares  that  knowledge  of  right  principle  is  the  basis  of  true 
life  ;  v.^  assumes  that  this  knowledge  necessarily  leads  to  action 
controlled  by  moral  principle. — 4.  Synonymous,  ternary.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  teacher  ;  lit.  :  to  give  discretion,  etc.  The 
i7iexperienced  {KV .  si»iple)  are  the  uninstructed,  the  immature; 
the  word  is  here  used  in  a  negative,  indifferent  sense,  to  indicate 
need  of  instruction  (used  in  v."  with  bad  connotation).  The  Heb. 
term  appears  to  signify  those  whose  minds  are  open  to  influence, 
who  can  be  easily  led.  The  parallel  ji'i9////z  likewise  emphasizes  the 
idea  of  immaturity  (so  that  there  is  no  need  to  substitute  a  term 
=  stupid)  ;  the  word  may  mean  babe  (Ex.  2^),  child  (2  K.  4^), 
young  man  ( Ju.  i  f) ,  or,  without  respect  to  age,  servant  ( 2  Sam.  9^) . 
The  Book  of  Proverbs  addresses  itself  to  men  only,  not  to  women  ; 
the  silence  respecting  the  latter  is  doubtless  due  to  their  domestic 
isolation  and  comparative  security  from  grosser  temptations  ;  more 
attention  is  paid  them  in  Ben-Sira  (y-^-^s  ^i  22*-^  23^-"^^  25^*^-^  26 
36^'"-^  42*"^^).  —  Discretion  is  cleverness  in  general  (Gen.  3^),  either 
for  good  (so  throughout  Pr.)  or  for  evil  (Ex.  21^'*).  The  synonym 
insight,  or  discretion,  is  the  power  of  forming  plans  or  perceiving 
the  best  line  of  procedure  for  gaining  an  end,  then  the  plan  itself, 
good  or  bad  ;  in  Pr.  sometimes  employed  in  a  bad  sense  (12^  14^^^ 
24"),  oftener,  as  here,  in  a  good  sense. 

5.  Synonymous,  quaternary-ternary  (possibly  ternary).  The 
telle  sense  that  the  wise  man  may  hear  (RV.  Orelli)  is  not  a 
correct  rendering  of  the  Heb.  ;  the  hortative  sense  let .  .  .  hear 
(De.,  Frank.)  though  not  in  accordance  with  the  construction  of 
the  rest  of  the  paragraph,  is  that  which  best  suits  the  expression 
of  object  which  characterizes  the  introduction.     The  declarative 


8  PROVERBS 

rendering  is  adopted  by  the  Vrss.,  Schult.,  Kamph. ;  the  sentence 
then  breaks  the  connection,  and  must  be  taken  to  be  parentheti- 
cal. It  seems,  indeed,  not  to  belong  here,  but  in  some  such 
connection  as  that  in  which  the  similar  aphorism  9^  now  stands. 
It  is  perhaps  an  old  gloss  (found  in  all  the  Vrss.)  the  design  of 
which  is  to  point  out  that  the  teaching  of  wisdom  is  appropriate 
not  only  for  the  immature  (v.'*),  but  also  for  the  wise.  Learning 
is  that  which  is  received,  the  content  or  material  of  instruction. 
The  parallel  expression  in  the  second  clause  appears  to  be  a  nauti- 
cal term  (so  the  Grk.  and  Lat.  Vrss.)  derived  from  the  word  for 
rope,  and  meaning  steering,  guidance ;  used  in  Job  37^^  of  God's 
guidance  of  the  clouds;  in  Pr.  11"  12^  20'^  2^^  =  counsel,  and 
here  potver  of  guidance,  of  soimd  direction  of  life,  =  education. 
—  6.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  scholarly  aim.  The  verse  con- 
nects itself  immediately  with  v.-"^ ;  these  refer  to  the  subject- 
matter  of  teaching,  v.^  to  its  form.  The  allusion  here  seems  to  be 
to  organized  schools,  and  to  the  habit  of  Oriental  teachers  of 
couching  their  instruction  in  figures,  parables,  and  allegories  (see 
especially  ch.  30).  The  reference  is  not  to  esoteric  teaching 
intended  to  conceal  the  highest  wisdom  from  the  mass  of  men  — 
there  is  no  evidence  that  such  esoterism  existed  anywhere  in  the 
ancient  world  *  —  though  the  teacher  would  naturally  speak  more 
freely  to  the  inner  circle  of  his  pupils  (cf.  Mt.  13^^).  —  The  three 
terms  here  employed  to  describe  the  form  of  the  sage's  instruction 
have  no  exact  representatives  in  English.  On  proverb  see  note 
on  \}.  The  meaning  of  the  stem  of  the  second  term  (nrbia) 
appears  to  be  turn,  bend ;  Gen.  42-^  an  interpreter  is  one  who 
translates  discourse  from  one  language  into  another,  and  so  the 
Babylonian  a/nbassadors  or  interpreters  of  2  C.  32^^ ;  Isa.  43-''  the 
mediators  or  interpreters  are  the  representative  men,  prophets,  and 
priests  (the  Grk.  not  so  well,  rulers),  who  made  God's  words  intel- 
ligible to  the  people,  and  the  fnediating  angel  oi  ]oh  33^  interprets 
man's  case  to  God.  Our  word  thus  appears  to  mean  a  turned  or 
figurative  saying,  one  that  looks  toward  another  sense,  a  parable ; 
in  the  only  other  place  in  which  it  occurs,  Hab.  2^,  it  has  the 


*  This  statement  can,  I  believe,  be  substantiated.     The  Greek  Mysteries,  and 
such  passages  as  Dan.  la^,  do  not  form  exceptions. 


I.  5-6  9 

connotation  of  taunt,  sarcasm ;  cf.  the  similar  use  of  proverb. 
Here  it  signifies  a  didactic  utterance  (rhythmical  in  form),  in 
which  the  figurative  need  not  be  the  predominant  feature.  —  The 
third  expression  (nTPi)  comes  in  like  manner  from  a  stem  meaning 
turn  aside,  and  signifies  some  sort  of  deflected  discourse.  Its 
earliest  use  seems  to  be  that  of  riddle,  as  in  Ju.  14,  i  K.  10' 
(=  2  C.  9^)  ;  in  Ez.  17-  it  =  parable,  and  in  Nu.  12'^  the  parabolic 
or  visional  form  of  the  ordinary  divine  communication  with  priest 
or  prophet,  in  contrast  with  the  direct  speech  which  Yahweh 
employed  with  Moses ;  in  Dan.  8^  Antiochus  Epiphanes  is  de- 
scribed as  understanding  hidoth,  which  must  mean  tortuous  (mor- 
ally tricky)  words  or  procedures ;  a  shading  of  scorn  and  ridicule 
appears  in  Hab.  2^,  while  in  \\i  49^'^^  78-,  as  in  Pr.,  the  sense  is 
simply  didactic.  Here  it  obviously  =  aphorisms.  —  The  three 
terms  are  here  synonyms.  Their  etymology  indicates  that  the 
earliest  teaching  was  figurative  in  form  (riddle,  proverb,  parable, 
allegory)  ;  but,  as  prophecy  naturally  advanced  from  ecstatic 
utterance  to  straightforward  discourse,  so  the  Israelitish  sages 
gradually  abandoned  the  figurative  form  in  the  interests  of  clear- 
ness, though  it  continued  to  be  employed  by  popular  teachers. 
V.®  assumes  that  it  is  a  part  of  good  education  to  understand 
the  aphorisms  of  the  sages,  and  these,  as  Pr.  and  Ben-Sira  show, 
were  simple  and  direct  expositions  and  enforcements  of  duty.  — 
That  a  definite  class  of  teachers  with  some  sort  of  school-organi- 
zation existed  as  early  as  the  third  century  B.C.  appears  probable 
from  the  way  in  which  the  sages  are  spoken  of  in  Pr.  (especially 
2  2^'^'^^),  and  Eccl.  12",  and  from  the  account  given  in  Pirke 
Aboth  of  the  heads  of  schools  and  their  sayings  from  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  on.  The  aphorisms,  and  particularly  the 
discourses,  in  Pr,  and  Ben-Sira  are  for  the  most  part  not  popular 
in  form,  but  bear  the  impress  of  cultivated  thought.  Later  the 
title  sages  was  given  to  the  teachers  of  the  law.* 

If  v.^  be  omitted,  v.""*''  form  a  symmetrical  strophe  or  paragraph  : 

To  know  wisdom  and  instruction,  to  discern  words  of  understanding, 
To  receive  instruction  in  wise  conduct,  in  justice  and  probity  and  rectitude. 
To  give  discretion  to  the  inexperienced,  to  the  youth  knowledge  and  insight, 
To  understand  proverb  and  parable,  the  words  of  sages  and  their  aphorisms. 

*  See  Schiirer,  Jewish  People,  Eng.  tr.,  II.  i.  324. 


10  PROVERBS 

7.  The  motto.  —  Antithetic,  quaternary.  This  general  definition 
of  wisdom  may  be  regarded  as  the  motto  of  the  whole  book,  and  is 
probably  to  be  ascribed  to  the  final  editor  ;  see  ijj  ii i'".  The  begm- 
ning  of  knowledge,  its  choicest  feature,  its  foremost  and  essential 
element,  is  said  to  be  the  fear  of  Yahweh.  The  term  fear  goes 
back  historically  to  the  dread  which  was  felt  in  the  presence  of  the 
powerful  and  stern  tribal  or  national  deity  ;  Semitic  deities  were  in 
the  historical  period  generally  conceived  of  as  lords  or  kings,  exer- 
cising constant  control  over  their  peoples,  and  inflicting  punishment 
on  them  for  disobedience.  This  is  the  prevailing  attitude  of  the 
pious  man  toward  God  throughout  the  OF.;  only  the  sentiment 
gradually  advances  from  the  form  of  mere  dread  of  the  divine 
anger  to  that  of  reverence  for  the  divine  law.  It  never  entirely 
loses,  however,  the  coloring  implied  in  the  word  fear.  The  OT. 
ethical  conception  of  life  is  not  love  of  a  moral  ideal  as  the 
supreme  good,  but  regard  for  it  as  an  ordination  of  the  supreme 
authority ;  the  world  is  looked  on  not  as  a  household  in  which 
God  and  man  are  co-workers,  but  as  a  realm  in  which  God  is  king 
and  man  is  subject.  This  conception,  the  result  of  the  moral 
strenuousness  of  the  Jewish  people  and  of  their  Oriental  govern- 
mental scheme  of  life,  helped  to  develop  moral  strictness.  It  is  a 
fundamental  principle  of  moral  life,  though  not  the  only  principle. 
The  idea  of  the  Hebrew  sage  is  that  he  who  lives  with  reverent 
acknowledgment  of  God  as  lawgiver  will  have  within  his  soul  a 
permanent  and  efficient  moral  guide  ;  other  conditions  of  ethical 
experience,  such  as  native  character,  knowledge,  temptation,  sur- 
roundings, are  left  unmentioned,  not  deliberately  excluded,  but 
omitted  because  they  are  not  prominent  in  the  writer's  thought ; 
his  purpose  is  to  emphasize  the  one  principle  of  reverence  as 
paramount,  and  he  identifies  the  man's  own  moral  ideal  with  the 
divine  moral  law.  —  The  use  of  the  name  Yahweh  instead  of  the 
more  general  Elohim  is  not  significant  as  to  date  or  as  to  ethical 
feehng.  Yahweh,  though  in  name  nothing  but  the  national  deity 
of  the  Jews,  is  here  regarded  as  the  supreme  and  only  God.  The 
personal  name  was  gradually  replaced  by  the  Lord  (as  in  the 
ancient  Versions,  except  the  Targum),  or  the  Holy  One  (as  in 
the  Talmud),  or  God  (as  in  Ezra,  Neh.,  Eccles.,  and  some 
Psalms),  but,  as  appears  from  some   late   Psalms,  continued  to 


I.  7  II 

be  freely  used,  in  certain  circles,  down  to  the  second  century  B.C. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  both  in  Egypt  and  in  Palestine  it  was, 
in  this  later  time,  though  written,  not  pronounced,  but  replaced  in 
reading  by  Adonny  {the  Lord).  —  The  second  clause  states,  not 
formally  but  in  substance,  the  antithesis  to  the  first,  the  sense 
being  :  "  absence  of  the  fear  of  Yahweh  (in  fools)  is  negation  (con- 
tempt) of  wisdom."  The  fool  is  primarily  a  person  lacking  in  good 
sense  in  general,  uninstructed  (Isa.  35®),  unskilled  (Pr.  ii"^),  or 
offensively  ignorant  (10^  20^  29^),  then,  as  here,  one  who  is  lacking 
in  the  highest  wisdom,  and  therefore  devoid  of  piety  toward  God 
(so  the  Grk.  here).  Such  an  one  despises  wisdom,  is  ignorant  of 
and  does  not  value  its  high  function,  nor  accept  it  as  guide. — 
Instead  of  the  couplet  of  the  Heb.  the  Grk.  has  a  quatrain  : 

The  beginning  of  wisdom  is  the  fear  of  God, 

And  a  good  understanding  have  all  they  that  practise  it; 

Piety  toward  God  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge, 

But  wisdom  and  instruction  the  impious  will  set  at  naught. 

The  second  line  of  this  quatrain  now  stands  in  ip  iii^",  and  the 
third  line  appears  to  be  a  doublet  of  the  first  (except  that  the 
terms  wisdom  and  knowledge  exchange  places),  but  may  be  an 
original  parallelism.  Whether  the  longer  form  of  the  Greek  is  an 
expansion  of  Heb.  or  Grk.  scribes,  or  belongs  to  the  original 
reading,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  As  this  verse  is  an  isolated  apho- 
rism, its  length  does  not  affect  the  rhythmical  structure  of  the 
succeeding  discourse.     Cf.  BS.  i^^'-''. 

I.  1.  The  primitive  sense  of  the  stem  ^'va  is  doubtful.  In  all  Semitic 
languages  it  means  to  be  like  or  equal,  in  Canaanitish  (Heb.,  Phoen.)  also 
to  rule,  and  in  Arab,  to  stand  erect,  be  etninent,  superior.  The  original 
force  is  perhaps  to  be  alongside  of,  above  (cf.  hy  —  on,  superposition,  and  at, 
juxtaposition),  whence  the  notions  of  similarity  and  superiority.  See  Schul- 
tens,  Prov.,  Fleischer  (in  De.),  Ges.  Thes.,  BDB.  — ?^  '-x-\:;'i  l^D;  (5  6s 
i^aalXevirev  iv  'l(rparj\,  possibly  a  variant  reading  (cf.  Eccl.  I^),  but  hardly 
an  indication  (Jager)  that  the  Grk.  translator  considered  the  paragraph  v.^"^ 
to  be  non-Solomonic.  —  2.  The  primary  sense  of  the  stem  nDn  seems  (from 
the  Arab.)  to  be  firm,  fixed,  whence  the  verb  control,  restrain,  and  the 
no'fXR.  fixedness  of  opinion,  knowledge.  —  3.  '^dJ'h  is  taken  z.%^  intelligence, 
wisdom,  by  Oort,  Theol.  Tijdsch.,  xix.  380  (IL  doctrinae),  as  in  Dan.  i"; 
the  Inf.  occurs  elsewhere  in  Pr.  twice,  in  21^^  =  make  wise,  teach,  in  21^^ 
=  wise  co7iduct ;   the  latter  sense  is  preferable  here.      ona'^D  is  collective 


12  PROVERBS 

plu.,  a  mass  of  equitable  actions  =  equity  ;  syn.  -n!:"'C,  Mai.  2*  Isa.  ii*  i//  45^("). 
A  different  sense  occurs  in  Dan.  ii^.  —  (5  divides  the  v.  into  three  stiches: 
di^affdal  T€  aTpo(f>a%  \67wc,  voTJaaL  re  diKaioffvvrjv  d,\ri6rj,  Kal  Kpifji.a  Karevdiiveiv. 
On  (TTjO.  \oy.  see  Schleusner,  Lex.  What  Heb.  it  represents  is  doubtful;  Lag. 
maoiD  turnings  (cf.  Ez.  41^- 2^),  which,  however,  is  not  used  of  speech;  Hei- 
denheim  (in  Fierte/Ja/irssc/ir.  /.  theol.  Forsch.,  ii.  401)  iDia  inpS,  the  teachings  of 
discipline,  which  hardly  explains  (§;  vorjcrai  =  ^y^^'n"?,  dXrjdrj  is  scribal  insertion 
(Lag.,  on  the  contrary,  rejects  diK.  as  usual  rendering),  /car.  =  some  form  of 
-w\  perh.  ^:^"D  taken  as  Inf.,  less  probably  Hif.  -\z'^n.  3L  =  |^.  &  to  receive 
instruction  and  fear,  where  xnSm  seems  to  be  scribal  error.  ST  =  |§,  except 
that  it  prefixes  1  to  pns.  —  Graetz  inserts  nnDin  before  idid  (as  in  6^3),  and 
writes  Voa'n'?  and  nn'i'iD  DflB'm,  making  a  tristich  (so  (@).  —  4.  DiNns,  written 
V.22. 32  Qipflj  the  N  is  vowel-letter,  and  should  be  omitted.  St.  nna  =  open, 
wide  (Gen.  9^^),  then  to  be  persuaded,  enticed,  seduced;  ins  opett-minded,  per- 
suadable, simple-minded,  inexperienced ;  Ar.  fata  =  broad-minded,  generous, 
and  you7ig  man,  fativd  =  legal  decision  (opening,  expounding  of  a  legal  ques- 
tion), mufti  =  judge.  —  PJ  nn'?;  (5  Iva.  5aj,  free  rendering.  |^  nyj*^;  @  7rat52 
hh  viip,  in  which  v^ct)  is  perh.  dittogram  (Jag.),  but  may  be  orig.  (Lag.)  ;  accord- 
ing to  Heid.  it  is  miswriting  of  ^-^s,  the  two  words  tt.  and  p.  being  designed  to 
form  a  parallel  to  plu.  's.  For  nyj  Graetz  unnecessarily  writes  -\';2  stupid. 
Rashi  ■i;;j  —  '\'JMV  cast  out  from  or  destitute  of  learning.  —  5.  A  telic  force  for 
yDtt'-'  is  hardly  supported  by  such  a  construction  as  that  of  iiDtfi  Isa.  13^  in 
which  the  two  clauses  are  closely  combined.  —  niSann  is  denominative  noun 
of  action;  (§  KvjSipvrjo-iv,  1L  gubernacula,  A26  gubernationes ;  on  5'^  see 
notes  of  Lag.  and  Field;   Fleischer  (in  De.)  compares  Ar.  tadbir,  Syr.  duboro. 

—  V.^  is  regarded  as  interpolation  by  Ziegler,  and  as  parenthetical  by  Wilde- 
boer.  —  6.  pj  n^ji'-'c;  (5  (TKOTeivov  \6yov;  AO  ipixeveiav,  and  so  3L  Rashi,  AV., 
against  the  parallelism,  t/ie  interpretation,  marg.  an  eloquent  speech  ;  VN.  figure. 

—  7.  On  the  etymology  of  '?iin  as  =  thick,  dull,  stupid,  see  P'leisch.,  De.,  SS., 
BDB.;  Malbim,  Heid.  (in  De.)  sceptic,  from  •''?in  perhaps.  —  Bickell  (  Wiener 
ZKM.  V.  86)  adopts  the  reading  of  (5  on  the  ground  that  beginning  of  ivisdom 
as  well  as  beginning  of  knowledge  is  here  absolutely  necessary;  he  holds  that  the 
Psalmist  took  the  passage  from  Pr.  and  that  the  translator  of  the  ^f/  followed  the 
translation  of  Pr.,  the  clause  falling  out  of  |§  by  homoeoteleuton.  It  is,  how- 
ever, equally  possible  that  Pr.  followed  the  \p.  Further,  it  is  not  clear  what  Heb. 
would  be  represented  by  (5  eixri^eta  els  6ebv,  which  Bickell  renders  by  nin>  hn'T'; 
but  ev(T.  nowhere  else  represents  '1%  and  the  expression  looks  like  original  Greek 
rather  than  like  a  translation.  It  is  found  in  CI.  Al.,  .Strom.,  161.  The  Heb. 
author  may  have  written  nyn  in  first  clause  because  he  had  noon  in  second. 

8-19.  Discourse  against  organized  robbery :  exhortation  to 
listen  to  instruction  (v.--  ^)  ;  the  temptation  to  robbery  and 
murder  (v.^'^'*)  ;  warning  against  it,  fate  of  the  robber  (v.^^"). 

—  The  arrangement  is  in  couplets,  with  varying  number  of  beats. 


I.  8-9  13 

Bickell  further  arranges  it  in  quatrains  :  v.*-  ^'  '"■  "•  ^-'  ^^'  "'  ^^-  ^^'  ^*-  '^. 
The  text  is  not  quite  clear ;  some  good  emendations  are  suggested 
by  the  Greek. 

8.  Hear,  my  son,  thy  father's  instruction, 

And  forsake  not  the  admonition  of  thy  mother; 

9.  For  a  chaplet  of  beauty  they  will  be  to  thy  head, 
And  chains  about  thy  neck. 

10.  My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee,  consent  thou  not,*  — 

11.  If  they  say :  "  Come  with  us. 
Let  us  lay  wait  for  the  <  perfect,' 
Let  us  lurk  for  the  innocent  [], 

12.  Let  us,  like  Sheol,  swallow  them  alive, 
Sound  as  they  who  go  down  to  the  Pit; 

13.  All  precious  wealth  we  shall  find. 
We  shall  fill  our  houses  with  spoil; 

14.  Cast  thou  thy  lot  among  us, 
One  purse  we  all  will  have,"  — 

15.  []   Walk  not  in  company  with  them, 
Keep  thy  feet  from  their  paths;  f 

17.  For  in  vain  the  net  is  spread 
In  the  sight  of  any  bird, — 

18.  And  they  for  their  own  blood  lay  wait. 
They  lurk  for  their  own  lives. 

19.  Such  is  the  <  fate  >  of  all  who  by  violence  seek  gain : 
It  destroys  the  lives  of  its  possessors. 

8,  9.  Exhortation.  V.*  is  synonymous,  ternary ;  v.'  synony- 
mous, ternary-binary.  On  instruction  see  note  on  v.^.  Admoni- 
tion (Heb.  tora,  sometimes  =  law^  is  here  synonym  of  instruction. 
Forsake,  more  exactly  reject,  repel.  Chains  =  necklace.  The 
address  my  son  =  my  pupil,  is  characteristic  of  chs.  1-9,  and 
also,  though  less  markedly,  of  22^^-24-^;  it  occurs  once  (27") 
in  the  section  chs.  25-29,  and  once  (19^)  in  the  central  division 

*  Perhaps  better : 

10.  My  son,  if  sinners  entice  thee, 

11.  If  they  say:  Let  us  lay  wait  for  the  'perfect,' 

12.  Let  us,  like  Sheol,  swallow  them  alive, 
Sound  as  they  who  go  down  to  the  Pit ; 

t  16,    For  their  feet  run  to  evil, 
And  haste  to  shed  blood. 


14  PROVERBS 

of  the  Book,  10^-22^^  It  indicates  an  organized  system  of  instruc- 
tion, probably  in  schools  ;  see  note  on  v."  above.  The  instruction 
here  mentioned,  however,  is  that  not  of  sages  but  of  parents.  It 
is  assumed  that  the  teaching  of  father  and  mother  will  be  wise, 
and  this  moral  training  of  home  would  naturally  form  the  basis  of 
the  fuller  instruction  of  the  schools.  The  reference  is  to  the 
moral  law  in  general,  not  specifically  to  the  Tora  (Law  of  Moses), 
though  this  would  naturally  be  the  foundation  of  Jewish  home 
teaching.  The  Talmud  (Ber.  35  a,  Pes.  50^,  Sanh.  102  a)  explains 
father  here  as  =  "  God,"  and  inother  as  =  "  Israel  "  (Ez.  19-) ; 
according  to  Rashi  the  instruction  of  the  father  is  what  God  gave 
to  Moses  in  writing  and  orally,  while  the  law  of  the  mother  means 
the  words  of  the  Scribes  or  Rabbis  whereby  they  made  a  hedge  to 
the  Law.*  Ornaments  of  head  and  neck  were  anciently  worn  by 
men  as  well  as  by  women. t 

10-19.  Alliance  with  bands  of  robbers  and  murderers  can  be 
attended  only  with  disaster.  The  organized  robbery  here  referred 
to  suggests  city  life  of  the  later  time,  the  periods  when,  under 
Persian  and  Greek  rule,  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria  sheltered  a 
miscellaneous  population,  and  a  distinct  criminal  class  became 
more  prominent.  The  references  in  the  preexilian  prophets  are 
to  a  less  organized  sort  of  crime ;  they  speak  rather  of  legalized 
oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich  ;  see  Am.  S^*^  Hos.  4^  6^-^  7^ 
Isa.  i2^  5^  lo'  Mic.  2^  f  61-  f^  Zeph.  3^  Jer.  5-^  f^'  Ez.  iS'^-^^ 
2 2^^  J  the  passages  in  Hos.  are  the  only  ones  that  seem  to  relate 
to  bands  of  robbers,  and  they  represent  a  state  of  anarchy  under 
the  last  kings  of  Samaria.  The  description  here  might  be  under- 
stood (so  Frank.)  as  referring  not  to  literal  robbery  and  murder, 
but  to  spoliation  under  legal  forms  ;  but  the  language  of  the  para- 
graph (v."-  '^)  and  the  manner  of  I.  (portrayal  of  open  vice, 
chs.  5.  6.  7)  favor  the  former  view.     Frank,  compares  BS.  3i'^'^'. 

10.  The  rhythm  is  irregular  :  the  first  clause  is  ternary,  the 
second  has  only  one  beat ;  the  latter  might  be  attached  to  v.^',  or 

*  On  the  education  of  Jewish  children  see  J.  Wiesen,  Gesch.  u.  Meth.  d.  Sc/iul- 
wesen  i??t  talmud.  Alterthume  ;  for  the  Greek  customs,  Becker,  Charicles,  Eng.  tr., 
pp.  217  ff. ;  for  the  Roman,  Gallus,  pp.  182  ff. 

t  See  Ju.  82t>;  Masp6ro,  Anc.  Egypt  and  Assyria ;  Becker,  Char.,  198,  n.  6,  Gal., 
429  ff. 


I.  8-12  15 

omitted  as  gloss,  and  ^°-  "*  will  then  form  the  couplet.  —  Sinners 
is  the  general  term  for  wrongdoers,  persons  of  bad  moral  charac- 
ter, etymologically  "  those  who  miss  the  mark  "  ;  they  are  men  who 
fail  in  the  performance  of  duty,  and  thus  miss  the  aim  of  life. 
The  noun  occurs  most  frequently  in  Ps.  and  Pr.  (13^'  23'^),  the 
verb  is  common  in  all  parts  of  OT.  Instead  of  the  conditional 
construction  the  Grk.  has  the  hortative  :  let  not  impious  men  lead 
thee  astray,  but  the  conditional  protasis  is  a  natural  if  not  neces- 
sary preliminary  to  the  hortative  apodosis  of  v.'^  — 11.  A  triplet 
in  the  Heb.,  ternary-binary-binary ;  the  verse  division  is  doubtful 
(see  note  on  v.'").  The  Heb.  text  instead  o{  perfect  has  blood, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  verse  adds  without  cause  ;  the  first  emenda- 
tion (requiring  the  change  of  one  Heb.  letter)  is  called  for  by  the 
parallelism,  and  the  addition  without  cause  is  superfluous,  since 
the  victims  are  described  as  innocent.  If  the  reading  dlood  be 
retained,  it  must  be  understood  elliptically,  as  =  to  shed  blood;  it 
cannot  be  taken  (Fleisch.  in  De.)  to  mean  a  youth,  a  young  Hood. 
The  adv.  without  cause  must  qualify  the  verb  lurk  ;  the  translation 
innocent  in  vain  (that  is,  their  innocence  does  not  save  them), 
while  grammatically  possible,  does  not  accord  with  the  connec- 
tion.—  Bloodshed  is  assumed  to  be  a  natural  accompaniment  of 
robbery,  and  it  is  accomplished  by  lying  in  wait  in  the  dark  places 
of  the  city.  Ancient  cities  were  badly  lighted  at  night,  and  not 
usually  well  policed.  Cf.  \\i  \o^.  —  12.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The 
word  rendered  sound  is  generally  used  of  moral  com])leteness 
=  perfect  (Gen.  6^  Pr.  2-'),  and  is  here  so  taken  by  some  (as 
Kamph.)  ;  but  the  parallelism  favors  the  physical  sense  ///  ///// 
bodily  health  and  strength,  equivalent  to  the  parallel  ali7>e  (as  in 
Ez.  15',  cf.  the  ritual  yse,  Ex.  12^  al.).  The  sense  of  the  pnssnge 
is:  we  will  swallow  them  (Grk.  him)  alive  and  sound  so  that 
they  shall  be  as  completely  destroyed  from  the  earth  as  those  that 
go  down  by  course  of  nature  into  the  pit  of  Sheol  (that  is,  those 
who  die).  Sheol  (and  so  its  equivalent  the  Pit)  is  the  Under- 
world, the  abode  of  the  dead,  good  an  1  ba  1,  a  cheerless  place 
whose  denizens  have  no  occupation  (Eccl.  9'°)  and  no  relations 
with  Yahweh*  (Isa.  38'^)  ;    descent  to  it  is  a  misfortune,  sin^e  it 

*  It  is  probable  that  in  the  oldest  form  of  the  Heb.  religion  (as  in  tlie  B^i by- 
Ionian)  Sheol  was  under  the  control  of  a  separate  deity,  independent  of  Yahweh; 


I 6  PROVERBS 

deprives  man  of  activity  and  happiness,  but  not  a  punishment  ex- 
cept when  it  is  premature  ('/' 55^^^^^')-  —  The  second  clause  reads 
in  the  Grk.  :  and  let  us  take  away  the  remembrance  of  him  from 
the  earth  (cf.  1/^34^*^'^^^  109^^),  which  represents  a  different  Heb. 
text  from  ours,  the  general  sense  being  unchanged  ;  in  the  Heb. 
the  parallelism  to  the  first  clause  is  presented  in  the  adj.  sound,  in 
the  Grk.  in  the  verb  take  away.  The  course  of  thought  favors  the 
Heb. ;  the  Grk.  is  probably  an  imitation  of  the  psalm-passage. — 
13.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  object  of  the  assault  is  treasure  ; 
the  house  is  to  be  broken  into  (Mt.  6'^).  The  robbers  have  their 
own  houses,  are  residents  of  the  city.  The  Vrss.  give  slightly 
different  readings  ;  %  :  let  us  seize  his  costly  possessions  ;  S  :  all 
his  wealth  and  glory;'  ST:  all  wealth  and  glory  (or  property). 
^  gives  a  good  sense  =  "  all  sorts  of  wealth."  — 14.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.  The  word  lot  is  primarily  the  thing  (a  die  or 
something  of  the  sort)  used  to  procure  the  answer  of  the  deity 
(as  by  Urim  and  Thummim)  to  a  question  (Lev.  16®),  then  the 
thing  assigned  to  the  questioner  by  the  divine  decision  (Jud.  i^), 
then  in  general  one's  part  in  life  (Jer.  13^  ip  16^  Dan.  12^^)  ;  cast 
thy  lot  among  us  =  share  our  fortunes,  identify  thyself  with  us. 
The  disposition  of  the  booty  indicates  a  regular  organization  in 
the  robber-band.  There  is  to  be  one  purse,  a  common  fund  of 
spoil  to  be  equitably  distributed  among  the  members  of  the  gang. 
This  is  held  out  as  an  inducement  to  the  neophyte,  who  would 
thus  get  more  than  he  could  hope  to  gain  by  his  own  separate 
efforts.  Murder  is  lightly  passed  over  by  the  robbers  as  a  natural 
and  easy  feature  of  their  occupation ;  the  young  man  is  supposed 
to  be  accessible  to  the  temptation  of  easily  acquired  wealth.  The 
picture  of  manners  here  given  is  historically  valuable.  For  another 
interpretation  see  note  above  (on  v.^""^'').  — 15-19.  The  reason 
for  avoiding  such  companions  :  their  path,  though  it  may  be  tem- 
porarily successful,  leads  finally  to  destruction.  — 15.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  received  Hebrew  text  begins  the  verse  with  my  son, 
as  in  v.^°,  and  a  justification  for  this   expression  may  be  found 

but  in  OT.  there  is  no  trace  of  any  divine  government  in  the  Underworld  (which  is 
an  isolated  and  anomalous  place)  till  late  postexilic  times  when  the  one  God 
became  universal  (Job  1413  268)  and  the  idea  of  resurrection  arose  (Dan.  12'-,  cf. 
the  doubtful  Isa.  2619J. 


I.  12-17  17 

in  the  length  of  the  preliminary  description,  v."'"''*,  which  might 
make  the  resumptive  my  soti  natural  (Baumg.)  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  as  it  is  not  found  in  (!§,  is  unnecessary  at  the  beginning 
of  the  apodosis,  and  is  rhythmically  undesirable,  it  is  better  to 
omit  it.  — 16.  Synonymous,  ternary.  On  both  internal  and  exter- 
nal grounds  this  verse  is  probably  to  be  regarded  as  a  scribal 
insertion.  It  breaks  the  connection  between  v.^^  and  v.^^,  the 
latter  of  which  gives  the  ground  (namely,  the  peril  of  the  robbers' 
course)  for  the  exhortation  of  the  former ;  and  the  section  v.^^'^ 
is  devoted  to  a  description  not  of  the  character  of  the  robbers 
(which  is  given  in  v.^**"")  but  of  their  fate.  Verse'*',  further,  is 
identical  with  Isa.  59"",  and  is  not  found  in  the  best  Grk.  MSS. 
It  appears  to  be  the  gloss  of  a  scribe  who  thought  a  reference  to 
the  bloodthirstiness  of  the  robber-band  here  appropriate,  or  wrote, 
as  a  remark,  on  the  margin  this  parallel  expression,  which  was 
then  inserted  in  the  text  by  a  subsequent  scribe.  —  In  the  second 
clause  we  may  i^kefeet  as  subject  of  make  haste,  or  we  may  insert 
the  subject  they  (the  robbers).  — 17.  Single  sentence,  ternary. 
This  statement  is  introductory  to  that  of  v.'^,  and  its  meaning  is 
fixed  by  the  relation  between  the  two  :  v.'*  declares  that  the 
robber  murderer's  course  is  destructive  to  him,  and  v.'*"  must 
therefore  set  forth  the  destruction  and  the  blindness  not  of  the 
victim  but  of  the  murderer  himself ;  the  comparison  refers  not  to 
the  futility  of  laying  snares  in  the  sight  of  birds  (who  thus  see  the 
trap  and  avoid  it),  but  to  the  blindness  and  folly  of  birds  who, 
though  the  snare  is  laid  in  their  sight,  nevertheless  fall  into  it.  In 
like  manner  the  criminal,  bhnded  by  desire  for  gain,  fails  to  see 
the  snare  which  God  (working  through  society  and  law)  spreads 
for  him,  and  falls  irredeemably  into  it.  The  connection  is  not : 
go  not  with  them,  the  net  which  they  spread  for  thee  is  clearly 
visible,  thou  wilt  surely  not  be  blinder  than  a  bird  (Ziegl.,  De.), 
but :  go  not  with  them,  for,  like  silly  birds,  they  fall  into  the  net, 
and  thou  wilt  be  entrapped  with  them  (Ew.,  Novvack,  Strack.,  ai., 
and  cf.  Schultens) .  Frank,  renders  :  for  without  success  is  the 
net  spread,  etc.,  that  is,  the  efforts  of  the  snarers  [the  sinners]  are 
without  result-  for  themselves  —  they  catch  no  birds ;  a  possible 
sense  and  good  in  itself,  but  the  couplet  appears  to  state  a  fact 
always  true  of  bird-snaring.     Moreover,  the  sage  probably  intends 


I 8  PROVERBS 

not  to  deny  that  sinners  get  booty,  but  to  afifirm  that,  though  they 
get  it,  it  does  not  profit  thern  in  the  end.  —  A  different  text  is 
offered  by  i3,  which  reads:  for  not  in  vain  are  nets  spread  for 
birds  (inserting  not,  and  neglecting  /;/  the  sight  of),  that  is,  not  in 
vain  are  there  pitfcills  for  criminals  in  the  shape  of  human  laws  and 
dispensations  of  God  —  they  (v.^^)  are  laying  up  punishment  for 
themselves.  This  gives  a  natural  connection  of  thought,  but  looks 
lil<e  an  interpretadon  of  a  text  not  understood.  —  The  Heb.  ex- 
pression possessor  of  wi?igs,  —  bird,  is  found  only  here  and  Eccl. 
lo'^.  — 18.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Their  criminal  proced- 
ure, begun  for  their  profit,  turns  out  to  be  a  plot  against  them- 
selves ;  they  overreach  themselves  and  become  the  executors  of 
their  own  doom.  It  is  not  said  how  this  result  is  brought  about, 
but  the  allusion  doubtless  is  to  human  law  and  divine  judgments. 
This  is  the  old-Israelitish  view  that  wrongdoing  will  be  punished 
in  this  life  —  perhaps  also  the  belief  that  criminals  cannot  in  the 
long  run  escape  the  vigilance  of  the  law.  —  (3  for  they  who  have 
to  do  7vith  blood  lay  2/p  evils  for  themselves,  and  the  overthrow  of 
lawless  men  is  grievous,  in  which  the  first  clause  is  incorrect  ren- 
dering of  the  whole  Heb.  verse,  and  the  second  clause  is  a  parallel, 
probably  a  scribal  addition  ;  the  contrast  given  in  07V7i  blood  is 
ignored,  in  accordance  with  the  Grk.  reading  of  v.^^.  — 19.  Single 
sentence,  ternary.  Lit.  :  such  are  the  ways,  the  manner  and  out- 
come of  life  (or,  the  sense  latter  end,  fate,  may  be  got  by  a  slight 
change  in  the  Heb.  word).  Grk.,  second  cl.  :  for  by  impiety  they 
destroy  their  lives,  an  appropriate  idea,  but  here  probably  not  origi- 
nal. See  15-^  28'''  Job  8'^  Hos.  4".  The  term  gain  has  here  the 
connotation  of  violence,  injustice,  as  in  Ez.  22^^;  the  simple  sense 
profit  x?.  found  in  Gen.  37-^  Mai.  3"  Job  22^  —  The  argument  of  the 
section  v.'""'"  is  an  appeal  not  directly  to  the  sense  of  right,  but  to 
rational  self-regard  :  robbery  and  murder  bring  destruction  on  the 
perpetrator,  and  must  therefore  be  avoided.  The  connection, 
however,  indicates  that  this  law  of  prudence  is  regarded  as  the 
law  of  God. 

9.  n>i^,  only  here  and  4^,  lit.  tzvisted,  any  adornment  for  the  head,  pjy 
apparently  a  denom.  from  p:;  neck,  a  word  which  occurs  in  Jew.  Aram,  and 
Arab.,  but  not  in  Heb.  Graetz,  with  little  probabiHty,  emends  to  rh-hz  perfect. 
^  omits.  —  pj  iDir:;  (g^  ■KaiZda.v,  (g -=^0  vbixovi  (and  so  S)  ;  the  latter  is  prob. 


I.  17-19  19 

scribal  variation  (cf.  6^''),  hardly  (Lag.)  rendering  of  'Dioj  for  -iDic;  Heid.  ■ 
holds  that  it  comes  from  a  Pharisaic  hand.  —  ^  :t;  (§•*  8^^r],  (§-^  H^rj,  perh. 
free  rendering  (Heid.:  allusion  to  phylacteries),  perh.  representing  a  variant 
reading,  though  the  original  in  tliat  case  is  not  apparent.  — 10,  11.  (5  divides 
y  10.  11  as  follows  :  A/y  son,  lei  not  impious  men  seduce  thee.  Nor  consent  thou 
if  they  urge  thee,  saying,  Come  with  us,  go  shares  in  blood.  And  let  us  hide 
the  just  man  tiiijustly  in  the  earth.  Bickell,  omitting  ^""^  for  rhythmical 
reasons,  writes :  Consent  not  if  they  say,  come  with  us,  Let  us  lay  wait  for 
blood,  let  us  lurk  for  the  innocent.  The  Heb.  rhythm  is  not  satisfactory,  but 
it  is  hardly  improved  by  these  variations.  Bickell's  omission  of  i''"  is 
unwarranted,  and  the  resulting  form  is  not  good,  either  rhythmically  or 
rhetorically.  (5  is  rhythmically  better,  but  its  rendering  of  |§  is  partly 
incorrect,  partly  free.  |§  may  be  retained  if  we  suppose  ^^^  to  be  purposely 
short,  and  take  11  as  couplet :  If  they  say,  come  with  us.  Let  us  lay  wait  for 
the  perfect,  let  us  lurk  for  the  innocent,  or,  if  we  throw  out  !<"'•  ^'^'^,  and  part 
of  ^^*,  and  take  the  rest  as  couplet.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  recover  the 
original  form.  —  10.  |^  3N;  (5  ,0177  =  ^s.  — 1§  !s\3n  (from  n^s),  in  which  the 
N  and  3  have  changed  places  (full  form  n^xr),  or  the  n  is  the  writing  of  an 
Aram,  scribe  for  n,  the  initial  N  of  the  stem  being  omitted  because  it  was 
unpronounced.  The  regular  form  n^vxn  is  found  in  a  number  of  MSS.  (see 
De'  Rossi),  and  either  it  should  here  be  written,  or  we  should,  with  Bi.,  write 
::Nb;  in  several  MSS.  the  verb  is  understood  as  N12  (xo"',  X3"),  which  is 
improbable.  — 11.  After  nsx''  (5S  have  r]"",  perh.  repetition  from  following 
hd'^.  (@  irapaKaX^ffwcn  may  =  '.s\  —  |^  nnisj;  (5  Koivtiivqaov,  from  3t;  or  i3n 
(Lag.).  — 1§  31':';  Dyserinck,  7'heol.  Tijd.  17,  578,  reads  3^>',  which  suits  the 
next  clause;  Oort,  ib.,  19,  381,  holds  that  the  reading  of  v.i^  (which  ver.  is 
clearly  parallel  to  v.^^)  sustains  3-1  here. — J§  njasj  seems  to  be  intrans.  (as 
apparently  in  ^  \&  56' ) ;  elsewhere  the  Qal  is  trans.,  and  so  it  is  here  taken 
by  Frank,  who  renders:  we  will  set  {a  trap).  —  ^  'pi'^;  (5  dvdpa  diKaiov, 
either  not  having  the  ^,  or  (Lag.)  taking  it,  according  to  the  Aram,  const.,  as 
sign  of  Ace.  —  |ij  3jn,  found  in  the  Vrss.  (^  s-i-;3  maliciously),  but  superflu- 
ous, and  probably  a  gloss  (Bi.).  The  whole  clause  may  be  omitted  without 
detriment  to  the  sense,  and  with  advantage  to  the  rhythm.  — 12.  |JJ  a>''^3:; 
Graetz  Pi.,  as  in  19-^  21'^'. — As  2d  clause  (5  has  Kal  Epufiev  aiTov  ttjv  /xvrjfnjv 
iK  717s,  representing  the  Heb.  of  ^J/  34"  logi^,  perh.  editorial  variation;  Lag. 
suggests  that,  the  Heb.  text  of  (5  being  effaced,  it  took  the  appropriate 
passage  from  the  Ps.;  for  |^  3iD''Dni  may  have  stood  ao^oi;  Heid.  supposes 
that  (@  may  have  had  nonxD  onipni  DDni,  improb.  late  Heb.  — 13.  "^  ^n; 
(5  TTju  KTrjuiv  airov;  Bi.  Di^n,  not  so  good  a  reading  as  that  of  |§. — 
14.  |§  '?^2;;;  ®ILS3C  have  Impv.,  which  is  better,  though  not  absolutely 
necessary,  since  the  assertory  form  of  statement  is  possible;  Bi.  omits  'H  as 
marring  the  parallelism,  but  ///)'  lot  is  with  us  is  hard.  —  ©''has  a  doublet,  a 
free  and  a  literal  rendering;  the  former  is  probably  the  original  (Jag.,  Lag., 
Baumgartner),  the  latter  a  correcting  gloss  — 15.  |f)  'J3;  (5'"=-a  we,  H-P  23 
(=  V),  252,  254,  295,  297,  \)U  fwv,  lacking  in  (gxABc^  and  should  probably  be 


20  PROVERBS 

omitted.  — 1§  na^ij  sing.;  plu.  in  (SILS^T  and  several  Heb.  MSS.,  the  diff.  not 
appearing  in  script,  defect.  — 1[§  T'P.  lacking  in  IL  De'R  249.  — 16.  Wanting 
in  the  uncials  of  (5  (exc.  nc.  a  A)  and  in  Copt.  (Sahidic  and  Memphitic); 
Cod.  23  (of  H-P)  adds  to  it  from  Rom.  316- 1'',  and  the  cursives  which  contain 
it  place  it  some  before  and  some  after  v.^^.  It  appears  not  to  belong  to  the 
original  text.  —  After  dt  3s  has  not  (=  •'pj,  as  in  Isa.  59").  — 17.  (§  prefixes 
ov;  &  has  1  instead  of  i;,  and  for  '^  rn'ro  plu.  act.  Part,  ptrna.  —  |^  nn'rc  in 
sense  of  spread  is  difficult,  the  word  elsewhere  meaning  scatter,  winnow; 
Schult.  here  ventilatiun ;  Rashi,  in  vain  is  (grain)  scattered  {on)  the  net. 
We  should  perhaps  read  n".:'^  nbnaD  (<5  diKTva)  or  'i  viina  ajn,  which  is 
phonetically  not  too  hard.  In  Hos.  5I  (5  renders  'a  by  eKreiveiv,  which  is  its 
expression  here.  —  |^  '^•;2;  plu.  in  (SlL^r.  and  4  Heb.  MSS.  — 18.  |§  mx^; 
(S  MfT^X'^'^fs;  see  v.i^.  f^  am;  @Bai.  ^^i^oi;  (H-P  23  odfidToiv)  =  D>D"t,  not 
so  well.  (5,  rendering  uas''  by  Orjcravpi^ovaiv,  adds  /cajcd  as  necessary  comple- 
ment. &  appears  to  make  v.^^  a  continuation  of  v.^^  (Pink.)  — 19.  |^  mms; 
O  nnns,  probably  to  be  adopted;  see  5*  Nu.  23^"^  xp  ^y^-^s  73I";  'ix  is  not 
elsewhere  used  as  =  /ate,  the  sense  here  required  by  the  connection.  — 
|§  r'?;a;   ©  ry  dffe^elg.  =  nSi;-3  (Jag.). 

20-33.  The  appeal  of  Wisdom.  —  Wisdom,  standing  in  a  public 
place,  exhorts  the  ignorant  and  the  scornful  to  listen  to  her  words, 
threatening  them  with  destruction  if  they  refuse.  The  section  is 
independent,  having  no  immediate  connection  with  the  preceding 
or  the  succeeding  context.  It  resembles  the  first  half  of  ch.  8, 
but  is  minatory  while  that  is  persuasive  in  tone.  As  the  text 
stands,  it  is  arranged  in  couplets  (except  v.^--^-^,  which  are  trip- 
lets), which  may  be  naturally  combined  into  quatrains.  After  the 
introduction  (v.^°-^')  comes  the  address,  which  consists  of  a  denun- 
ciation (v.^^-^),  the  charge  of  disregard  of  her  teaching  (v.^^-^),  a 
description  of  the  fate  of  the  despisers  (v.^^^),  and  a  contrast 
between  the  doom  of  fools  and  the  happiness  of  the  obedient 
(v.^^-^).     Wisdom  is  personified,  as  in  chs.  8.  9. 

20.  Wisdom  cries  aloud  in  the  streets. 
In  the  broad  places  utters  her  voice, 

21.  Calls  out  at  the  head  of  the  <  high  places,' 
In  the  gates  of  the  gateways  []  *  she  says : 

22.  How  long,  ye  dullards,  will  ye  love  ignorance  []  f. 
And  fools  hate  knowledge? 

*  The  Heb.  adds  :  in  the  city. 

t  The  Heb.  adds  :  and  scoffers  delight  in  scoffing. 


I.    20-2I  21 

23.  []  *  I  will  utter  my  mind  to  you, 
Will  tell  you  my  decision : 

24.  Because  I  have  called,  and  ye  refused, 

I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  none  regarded, 

25.  Ye  have  ignored  all  my  counsel. 
My  admonition  ye  have  rejected, — 

26.  I,  in  my  turn,  will  laugh  in  [the  day  of]  your  calamity, 
I  will  mock  when  your  disaster  comes, 

27.  When  your  disaster  comes  like  a  storm. 
And  your  calamity  like  a  whirlwind.  []  f 

28.  Then  will  they  call  on  me,  but  I  will  not  answer, 
They  will  seek  me,  but  will  not  find  me, 

29.  For  that  they  hated  knowledge, 
And  chose  not  the  fear  of  Yahweh. 

30.  They  would  none  of  my  counsel. 
All  my  admonition  they  despised; 

31.  Therefore  they  shall  eat  of  the  fruit  of  their  own  conduct, 
And  be  sated  with  their  own  counsels. 

32.  For  the  indifference  of  the  insensate  will  slay  them, 
The  careless  ease  of  fools  will  destroy  them. 

33.  But  whoso  hearkens  to  me  will  dwell  secure. 
Will  be  free  from  fear  of  harm. 

The  interpretation  of  the  paragraph  depends  in  part  on  the 
view  taken  of  the  relation  between  v?^-  ^^  and  the  following  verses. 
If  the  former  are  held  to  contain  an  exhortation  to  repentance 
^y  asa^^  they  can  hardly  be  closely  connected  with  the  latter,  since 
these  presume  that  the  call  of  Wisdom  has  been  rejected,  and  the 
discourse  should  state,  after  v.-^,  the  repellant  answer  of  the  per- 
sons addressed  ;  as  the  text  stands,  v.-^^  constitute  a  separate 
discourse  which  states  the  result  of  disobedience.  Unity  of 
thought  may  be  gained  by  omitting  v.-^^,  and  taking  the  whole 
piece  as  minatory,  the  connection  being  :  you  have  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  me  long  enough  (v.^^),  I  have  lost  patience  and  will  tell  you 
my  decision  (v.-'^)  :  because  you  have  refused,  etc.  (v.-^^'). 

20,  21.   Introduction:   the  publicity  of  Wisdom's  appeal. — 

Synonymous,  ternary.    After  gateways  the  Heb.  has  t)i  the  city  her 

*  V.23a  in  the  Heb. :  turn  ye  to  my  admonition. 

t  Heb.  v.S""  :  7uhen  distress  and  anguish  befall  you. 


22  PROVERBS 

words  she  says  ;  the  expressions  in  the  city  and  her  words,  which 
mar  the  rhythm  in  the  original,  appear  to  be  glosses,  the  former 
intended  as  an  explanation  oi gateways  (stating  definitely  that  the 
reference  is  to  city  gates),  the  latter  noting  that  the  following 
verses  give  the  words  then  uttered  by  Wisdom.  The  Grk.  has  a 
somewhat  different  reading  :  Wisdom  sings  in  the  streets  (lit.  exits), 
in  the  broad  places  boldly  speaks,  prochiinis  on  the  summits  of  the 
zvalls,  sits  at  the  gates  of  princes,  at  the  gates  of  the  city  boldly  says  ; 
this  seems  to  be  partly  misreading,  partly  expansion,  of  our  Heb. 
text.  —  Broad  places  are  the  wide  open  spaces  in  front  of  city 
gates  ;  instead  of  high  places  the  Heb.  has  a  word  which  is  com- 
monly rendered  noisy  places,  understood  to  mean  crowded  thor- 
oughfares  (including  bazaars  and  market-places)  ;  but  this  sense 
is  doubtful,  and  a  better  term  is  given  in  8^  {high  places),  or  by 
Sept.  {walls)  ;  ztuills  may  be  included  in  the  high  places ;  these, 
together  with  streets  and  gateways,  were  gathering-places  for  the 
people.  The  gateway  was  a  long  structure  entered  at  the  extremi- 
ties through  gates.  The  verb  cries  aloud  expresses  an  excited 
emotional  utterance,  usually  of  joy  (Lev.  9^*  Isa.  12"  Job  38^), 
sometimes  of  sorrow  (Lam.  21^^),  or  general  excitement  {\p  78^^), 
here  of  intensity  of  feehng.  —  Wisdom  does  not  content  herself 
with  being  wise  at  home,  but  seeks  men  out  in  their  everyday 
life  —  she  is  a  preacher.  The  custom  of  speaking  in  places  of 
concourse  was  an  old  one,  familiar  to  the  prophets  ;  see  Jer.  7^, 
and  cf.  Mic.  i^  Isa.  20-  Jer.  5' ;  so  also  Socrates  (Xen.,  Mem.  1.  1, 
10).  The  later  Jewish  custom  resembles  both  that  of  the  proph- 
ets and  that  of  the  Greek  philosopher,  the  former  in  its  hortatory 
tone,  the  latter  in  its  reflective,  ethical  subject-matter.  The  choice 
of  the  term  wisdom  to  denote  the  religious  teacher  points  to  a 
phase  of  life  which  came  after  the  great  prophetic  period  (in  the 
prophets  wisdom  is  not  religious),  and  probably  indicates  the 
influence  of  the  Greek  atmosphere  in  which  the  Jews  lived  from 
the  close  of  the  fourth  century  B.C.  on*  (see  Litroduction,  §  6). 


*  Cf.  the  similar  use  of  ■wisdom  in  Ben-Sira,  Eccl.,  Wisd.  of  Sol.  The  title 
Koheleth,  given  in  Eccl.  to  Wisdom  (speaking  in  the  person  of  Solomon),  if,  as 
is  possible,  it  means  a  caller  (or  member^  of  a  public  assembly,  supposes  acquaint- 
ance with  Grk.  forms  of  life;  see  the  commentaries  of  Tyler,  Plumptre,  Reuss, 
Siegfried,  Wildeboer,  and  Cheyne's  fob  and  Solomon. 


I.  20-23  23 

The  exhortation  in  Prov.  is  not :  put  away  all  other  gods  and 
serve  Yahweh  alone,  or  :  bring  offerings  to  the  temple  according 
to  the  Law,  but :  listen  to  reason  and  conscience,  which  are  the 
voice  of  God  in  the  soul. 

22-33.  The  discourse  of  wisdom  in  the  received  Heb.  text 
falls  naturally  into  two  parts,  an  invitation,  v.^--^,  and  a  denuncia- 
tion, v.-*"''^  The  connection  between  the  divisions  is  not  clear 
(see  note  above  on  v.^"^).  The  denunciation  is  introduced 
abruptly,  as  if  the  invitation  had  been  refused,  though  nothing 
is  said  of  a  refusal.  On  this  point  the  Versions  offer  nothing 
different  from  the  Heb.,  and  there  is  not  good  ground  for  exten- 
sive alterations  of  the  text  (see  below).  A  closer  connection 
between  the  parts  might  be  secured  by  giving  v.^'*-^'  the  condi- 
tional form,  the  apodosis  following  in  v.^®,  but  against  this  is  the 
form  of  the  verbs  in  v.-^'  ~^.  Failing  this  we  shall  have  to  consider 
the  divisions  as  separate  discourses,  or  suppose  that  an  explana- 
tory transitional  statement  has  fiillen  out  after  v.^^,  or,  what  seems 
most  satisfactory,  omit  v.^^* ;  v."-^''  will  then  contain  not  an  invita- 
tion, but  a  denunciation.  Cf  the  connectedness  and  smoothness 
of  the  similar  discourse  8'"". 

22,  23.  The  Heb.  has  two  triplets  :  v."  is  quaternary-quaternary- 
ternary,  v.^^  binary-ternary-ternary  ;  on  the  text  see  below.  The 
three  classes  of  persons  are  practically  the  same,  though  the 
words  have  different  shades  of  meaning.  Dullards  (or  simple- 
tons, RV.  simple)  are  the  inexperienced  (v.**),  here  those  who 
positively  love  ignorance,  and  deliberately  refuse  to  listen  to 
instruction  in  right  living. — The  terms  scoffing  (or  scorn')  and 
scoffer  (or  scorner)  belong  almost  exclusively  to  the  later  relig- 
ious vocabulary  of  Pss.,  Pr. ;  they  occur  elsewhere  only  Hos.  7^ 
Isa.  28"-°  29-"  Job  i6-'\  in  which  passages  they  express  contempt 
in  general ;  in  Pr.  scoffer  =  bad  man,  one  who  turns  his  back  on 
what  is  good  (so  ^  i'),  the  special  element  of  contempt  not 
being  significant;  the  simple  sense  occurs  in  2o\  In  1//  iiq'^'  the 
reference  is  to  apostate  Jews  or  foreign  enemies  ;  in  Pr.  there 
is  no  reference  to  the  nation  Israel.  —  Fool  (Heb.  kes'il)  is  also 
a  term  of  the  reflective  moral  literature,  occurring,  in  the  intel- 
lectual  or  ethical    sense,  only  in    Pss.,   Pr.,   Eccl.   (the  verb  is 


24  PROVERBS 

found  once,  Jer.  lo^)  ;  it  seems  to  mean  a  stolid,  dirtl  person, 
in  Pr.  one  who  is  insensible  to  moral  truth  and  acts  without 
regard  to  it.  By  these  three  terms  the  sages  express  the  con- 
trast to  that  wisdom  which  consists  in  acceptance  of  and 
obedience  to  the  divine  law  of  conduct  written  in  man's  heart. 
—  As  only  two  of  these  classes  {dullards  and  fools)  are  mentioned 
in  v.^-  (which  is  a  r^sum^  of  the  preceding  statement),  there  is 
ground  for  supposing  v."''  to  be  a  scribal  addition  ;  Wisdom  is 
here  dealing  with  the  unwise.  —  In  v.'^''  of  the  Heb.  these  persons 
are  urged  to  listen  to  instruction,  to  turn  (that  is,  give  heed)  to 
(not  at)  the  admonition  of  Wisdom  ;  she  promises  to  impart  her 
knowledge  to  them.  Advwnition  (or,  ?rproof)  (used  chiefly  in 
Pss.,  Pr.)  is  exhortation  tinged  with  imputation  of  blameworthiness. 
For  the  reason  given  above  this  line  should  probably  be  omitted  ; 
the  remaining  couplet  (v.-^)  will  then  be  Wisdom's  declaration  that 
she  now  utters  her  final  word.  The  word  rendered  utter  (RV. 
pour  out)  is  a  poetical  synonym  of  speak;  so  ie^'^'^\p  19^^^'  78^  94'' 
191^''  145' ;  and  }}ii?id  {spirit)  —  thought,  here  —  purpose  or  deter- 
mination. The  Heb.  word  commonly  rendered  spirit  means  first 
wind  and  so  breath,  and  then  the  inward  life  or  being ;  in  Pr. 
it  generally  has  this  last  sense,  as  11^^  16--''-  25-*  29"  (so  Isa.  40^'^ 
the  mind,  Judgmefit  of  Yahweh).  Here  the  meaning  is  given  by 
the  parallelism  :  /  zvill  tell  (or  make  known)  my  words  =  /  will 
utter  my  thought*  The  words  (here  =  decision)  and  the  mind 
are  stated  in  the  following  address  (v.^**-^).  My  spirit  may  also 
=  myself .  —  The  Heb.  introduces  the  second  line  of  v.^^  with 
behold.  —  %  construes  the  two  verses  differently  :  So  long  as  the 
guileless  hold  fast  to  righteousness  they  shall  not  be  ashamed,  but 
the  foolish,  being  lovers  of  insolence,  have  become  impious,  have 
hated  knowledge,  and  have  become  liable  to  reproof ;  behold  I 
will  pour  forth  to  you  the  utterance  of  my  breath,  and  teach  you 
my  word.  The  declarative  form  (instead  of  the  interrogation 
of  the  Heb.)  is  improbable,  and  the  contrast  in  v.^^  is  against 
the  connection.  —  Bickell  reads  :  Hoiv  lotig  will  ye  love  igno7-ance, 
and  scorners  delight  them  in  scorning,  and  fools  hate  knowledge 
and  incur  my  reproof?    He  thus  gains  a  rhythmically  symmetrical 

*  So  Salomon  ben  Melek,  cited  by  Heid. 


I.  22-27  25 

quatrain,  and  (by  obliterating  the  invitation  of  v.^^)  gets  rid  of 
the  break  between  v."-^^  and  the  rest  of  the  discourse.  But  the 
substitution  of  incur  for  turn  is  arbitrary,  v.^''- "  (which  he  omits) 
is  a  natural  introduction  to  the  denunciatory  discourse,  and  the 
omission  of  the  subject  {dullards)  in  v.""  is,  from  the  parallelism, 
improbable.  S  makes  v.^  conditional :  if  ye  turn  .  .  .  I  will, 
etc. ;  but  this  construction  only  introduces  confusion,  since  v.^**^- 
assume  that  they  have  not  turned. 

24-33.  The  denunciation,  consisting  of  a  direct  address  (v.^^^^), 
a  description,  in  3  pers.,  of  the  fate  of  the  recusant  (v.^^^),  and 
a  statement  of  the  contrasted  positions  of  the  ignorant  and  the 
wise  (v."^-^). 

24-27.  Wisdom  will  mock  at  the  calamity  of  those  who  reject 
her  invitation. — The  lines  may  be  read  as  ternary,  but  the  law  or 
rule  governing  the  beats  is  not  clear. — V.-*-  "^  ^^  are  couplets,  v.^''  is  a 
triplet  in  the  Heb. ;  the  Grk.  converts  v.^^  into  a  quatrain  (or  two 
couplets)  by  adding  at  the  end  when  destruction  comes  upon  you. 
Bickell,  by  omissions,  substitutions,  and  transpositions,  makes  out 
of  v.^^  ^  a  quatrain  :  /  also  will  laugh  in  {the  day  of)  your  calamity, 
when  distress  arid  anguish  come  upon  you,  I  will  mock  when  your 
fear  comes  as  a  storm  and  your  desolatio7i  comes  as  a  zvhirlwind. 
Y.^  in  the  Heb.  is  expansion  of  the  predicates  of  v.-^,  a  recognized 
poetical  form.  It  is  not  necessary  to  insist  on  absolutely  symmet- 
rical couplets  at  all  hazards ;  but,  as  the  rest  of  the  paragraph  is 
arranged  in  couplets  and  quatrains,  and  as  the  two  predicate-terms 
of  v.-*^,  calamity  and  disaster,  are  given  in  v.^''  '',  and  v.'^'^  appears 
to  be  an  afterthought  (a  scribal  insertion),  it  is  better  to  omit  this 
last.  —  The  verbs  in  v.-*  ^  refer  to  Wisdom's  invitations  in  the  past, 
that  is,  all  the  good  influences  of  life ;  warning  has  not  been  lack- 
ing, and  on  the  despised  warning  follows  this  minatory  discourse. 
The  first  verb  in  v.'*  is  primarily  go  freely  about  and  let  go  fr-ee, 
then  neglect,  avoid,  ignore;  the  sense  of  "allowing  full  play  or 
license  "  is  found  in  Ex.  5*  32^  Pr.  29^*,  that  of  "  neglecting,  avoid- 
ing," in  4'^  8^  13^**  15'^-.  —  Laugh  at  (instead  of  laugh  in,  etc.), 
v.^^,  is  possible  (Gen.  39"),  but  does  not  agree  so  well  with  the 
designation  of  time  in  the  following  clause.  Mock  is  stronger  than 
laugh,  expressing  bitterness  or  exulting  derision.     The  /  in  my 


26  PROVERBS 

turn  (RV.  I  also)  brings  out  the  contrast  of  persons  :  "You  have 
had  your  turn,  and  I  shall  have  mine."  Disaster  is  \\\..  fear  (par- 
allel to  calamity)  =  ground  or  cause  of  fear.  Instead  of  storm  we 
may  render  by  desolation  (RV.  marg.),  but  the  former  sense  is 
favored  by  the  parallelism.  Distress  and  anguish  are  synonyms 
(cf.  Isa.  8^^  30''),  both  signifying  distressful  limitation,  straitness, 
opposed  to  largeness,  freedom  of  movement  (t//  3i^<'"  1 18^).  Befall 
is  lit.  co>ne  upon.     V,^"  is  probably  not  original ;    see  note  above. 

—  The  address  is  minatory.  The  offence  (v.^^  '^)  is  disregard  of 
the  exhortation  of  Wisdom  —  she  has  implored,  they  have  turned  a 
deaf  ear.  Their  posture  of  mind  is  that  of  deliberate  disregard  — 
they  have  had  sufficient  warning.  Whether  their  neglect  came 
from  lack  of  previous  training,  or  from  superficiality  and  frivolity 
of  nature,  or  from  conscious  choice  of  evil  in  preference  to  good, 
is  not  said.  The  picture  is  presented  objectively  :  these  persons, 
for  whatever  reason,  are  outside  the  domain  of  Wisdom.  This 
objective  view  is  characteristic  of  the  old-Israelitish  thought,  which 
does  not  seek  nice  psychological  distinctions ;  the  prophets  judge 
individuals  and  nations  by  their  relation  to  the  law  of  Yahweh  or 
to  the  nation  Israel,  without  examination  of  mental  experiences ; 
compare  also  the  distinction,  in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  between  the 
domains  of  light  and  darkness.  Solidity  of  ethical  judgment  is 
thereby  gained,  though  at  the  cost  of  sympathetic  discrimination. 

—  The  result  (v.-^^'^)  is  that  when  the  punishment  comes  the  dis- 
obedient will  be  without  the  support  of  Wisdom.  The  calamity 
(as  everywhere  in  Pr.)  occurs  in  this  life  —  it  is  not  said  to  be 
inflicted  by  Wisdom,  but  comes  in  the  natural  course  of  things  ;  it 
is  inevitable,  a  necessary  result  of  the  divine  government  of  the 
world,  which  includes  both  natural  law  and  special  divine  interven- 
tion. On  the  one  hand,  the  sage  intimates,  those  who  neglect 
Wisdom  will  naturally  find  themselves  defenceless  in  the  evil  day 
which  Wisdom  alone  can  avert ;  on  the  other  hand,  God  as  gov- 
ernor will  punish  the  evildoer.  Wisdom  is  here  first  ordinary 
human  sagacity,  which  saves  man  from  misfortune,  and  then  that 
higher  sagacity  which  is  the  comprehension  and  assimilation  of 
the  good  as  divine,  of  that  highest  truth  and  right  which  God  has 
embodied  in  his  law.  There  is  an  approach  here  to  the  concep- 
tion of  communion  with  truth,  or  with  the  divine  source  of  truth. 


I.  24-31  27 

as  the  strongest  support  of  the  ethical  life.  The  personified 
Wisdom,  who  speaks  as  the  final  arbiter  of  men's  destinies,  is  the 
insight  that  rules  the  world,  and  is  identical  with  God's  moral  law. 
—  The  discordant  note  in  the  announcement  of  retribution  is 
Wisdom's  mockery  of  the  wretched  sufferer.  This  is  not  in  accord 
with  her  character  as  pure,  divine  intelligence,  friendly  to  man  (as 
she  appears,  for  example,  in  8^')*;  the  unhappy  fate  of  the  evil- 
doer, it  would  seem,  should  call  forth  sorrow  and  not  exultation. 
Such,  however,  is  the  tone  of  the  old  Hebrew  thought ;  the 
prophets  exult  in  like  manner  over  the  downfall  of  the  enemies  of 
Israel.  The  Hebrew,  whether  prophet,  psalmist,  or  sage,  was  a 
thoroughgoing  partisan,  identifying  himself  with  his  circle,  and 
identifying  his  interests  with  the  eternal  order.  Further,  his  gov- 
ernmental conception  of  the  world  was  purely  external :  the  bad, 
from  whatever  point  of  view  they  were  adjudged  bad,  were 
regarded  as  enemies  of  the  realm,  and  their  destruction  was 
hailed  with  joy.  Such  seems  to  be  the  point  of  view  of  the  writer 
of  this  passage.  He  does  not  feel  that,  though  sin  is  to  be  de- 
nounced and  its  consequences  set  forth,  the  sinner  has  a  claim  on 
the  sympathy  of  his  fellowmen ;  he  does  not  take  into  account 
temptations  and  struggles  of  soul.  He  contents  himself  with 
dividing  men  into  two  classes  —  those  who  heed  and  those  who 
reject  wisdom. 

28-33.  Resumptive  description  of  the  fate  of  the  unwise 
(who  are  spoken  of  in  third  person),  consisting  of  a  detailed 
explanation  of  their  punishment  (v.-*^-^^),  and  a  statement  of  the 
general  rule  of  compensation  in  life  (v.^-^). 

28-31.  Resumptive  description  of  punishment.  —  Well  formed 
couplets,  synonymous,  ternary,  except  that  v.^"*  is  binary,  the  penult 
being  a  very  long  word.  The  correspondence  with  the  preceding 
paragraph  is  close,  with  inversion  of  the  order  of  thought :  v.-" 
answers  to  v.-®-'',  and  v.^-^"  to  v.-*"^;  the  conclusion  is  repeated 
in  v.^^  The  rendering  seek  early  (AV.)  or  seek  diligently  (RV.) 
rests  on  the  derivation  of  the  verb  from  a  noun  meaning  mojiiing, 
as  if  it  signified  to  rise  betimes  in  order  to  do  one's  work  dili- 

*  According  to  the  Masoretic  Hebrew  text ;  see  note  on  that  verse  below. 


28  PROVERBS 

gently;*  but  this  derivation  is  improbable  in  the  face  of  7^^  11^, 
Job  7^^  —  the  verb  means  simply  seek,  here  parallel  to  call.  The 
terms  hated,  chose  not,  would  none,  despised  (v.-'"*')  are  synonyms, 
expressing  indifference  or  hostility  to  the  instructions  of  Wisdom. 
In  v.^"-^^  the  counsel  (or  counsels)  and  admonition  (or  admoni- 
tions) of  Wisdom  are  contrasted  with  the  man's  own  zvay  (=  man- 
ner or  scheme  of  life,  conduct)  and  counsels  (or  devices).  In  v.^ 
Bickell  would  read  the  knowledge  of  God  as  the  appropriate 
parallel  to  the  fear  of  Yalnveh  (so  in  2^),  which  is  also,  perhaps, 
rhythmically  an  improvement  of  the  text ;  yet,  as  the  former  ex- 
pression occurs  only  once  in  Pr.  (and  elsewhere  in  OT.  only  twice, 
Hos.  4^  6^  knowledge  of  the  Most  High  once,  Nu.  24^''),  it  is  per- 
haps better  to  retain  the  general  term  knowledge,  which  in  v/  is 
identified  with  the  fear  of  Yalnveh.  —  The  thought  is  the  same 
with  that  of  the  preceding  paragraph,  only  with  an  added  touch  of 
irremediableness  in  v.-^.  The  offenders  who  have  deliberately 
rejected  the  counsels  and  appeals  of  Wisdom  will  find,  when  the 
day  of  punitive  distress  comes,  that  they  need  her  aid,  but  they 
will  ask  it  in  vain  ;  she  will  be  deaf  to  their  cries,  as  they  were  deaf 
to  her  appeals.  This  is  only  a  more  vivid  statement  of  the  prin- 
ciple affirmed  in  v.^',  that  every  one  must  eat  of  the  fruit  of  his 
own  doings  —  a  universally  recognized  law  of  life.  If  it  be  asked, 
what  room  is  here  left  for  repentance?  the  answer  of  the  sage  is 
that  the  offenders  have  had  ample  opportunity  to  amend  their 
ways,  and  have  refused  to  change  (v.'^*').  As  to  the  term  of 
repentance  and  the  limit  of  Wisdom's  patience,  it  is  assumed  that 
at  a  given  moment  God  intervenes  to  punish,  when  sin  has  grown 
too  great  to  bear,  when  the  iniquity  is  full  (Gen.  15^^  iS"'"-^^),  but 
this  moment  is  known  to  God  alone.  The  point  of  view  is  exter- 
nal :  at  a  certain  moment  retribution  inevitably  comes  (whether 
in  the  course  of  natural  or  civil  law,  or  by  supernatural  inter- 
vention), and  then,  in  the  nature  of  things,  it  is  too  late  for  the 
sinner  to  retrace  his  steps  ;  there  is  no  reference  here  to  a  state 
of  punitive  blindness  and  moral  deadness  in  which  the  man 
desires  to  repent  and  cannot,  or  is  conscious  that  he  is  morally 


*  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  the  word  early  in  this  rendering  of  AV.  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  time  of  life. 


I.  28-33  29 

lost ;  *   the  cry  of  the  sinner  in  v.-**  is  for  deUverance  from  physi- 
cal evil. 

32,  33.  The  general  rule.  —  Both  couplets  are  synonymous, 
ternary.  —  32.  Indijferencc  (n2lC?a)  =  averseness,  apostasy,  recu- 
sance, refusal,  is  the  "  turning  away  "  from  instruction  and  conse- 
quently from  right  living.  Careless  ease  (mbc')  is  primarily  quiet, 
freedom  from  care  and  anxiety  (as  in  17'),  here,  in  bad  sense, 
repose  gained  by  ignoring  or  neglecting  the  serious  responsibilities 
of  life  (nearly  =  negligence').  The  two  terms  are,  in  their  primary 
senses,  mutually  complementary  :  rejection  of  knowledge  produces 
false  security  and  deceptive  peace,  and  the  latter  presupposes  the 
former ;  they  are  here  substantially  synonymous  :  refusal  is  indif- 
ference, negligence.  Inse?isate  (  =  dullards)  and  fools  as  in  v.^l  — 
33.  Secure  may  mean,  objectively,  free  from  danger  (as  in  3-^ 
Jer.  23''),  or  subjectively,  free  from  sense  of  danger  (as  in  3-^ 
Ju.  8").  The  contrast  with  the  slay  of  v.'^-  favors  the  former 
meaning,  but  the  second  line  {fear  =  apprehension)  makes  the 
latter  probable.  The  sense  of  security  is  thus  put  over  against  the 
careless  ease  of  fools  (v.'").  —  Wisdom  sums  up  by  stating  the  gen- 
eral principle  that  ethical  folly  is  self-destructive  (so  5"'^)  ;  as  to 
the  means  by  which  this  destruction  is  effected  see  note  on  pre- 
ceding verse.  —  In  contrast  with  the  false  peace  of  the  ignorant  is 
put  the  true  peace  which  comes  from  wisdom  —  a  security  which 
is  assured  by  obedience  to  the  laws  of  man  and  God.  The  refer- 
ence is  to  freedom  from  outward  misfortune  ;  the  whole  tone  of 
the  Book  makes  it  improbable  that  the  writer  has  in  mind  the 
inward  peace  which  is  independent  of  external  experiences  ;  else- 
where harm  (RV.  ez'il)  is  visible  "misfortune"  or  "mischief" 
^^29.30  ^14..  18  j^'ii  jg4  jy3  ^2^  al.).  Inward  peace,  resting  on  con- 
sciousness of  right  and  trust  in  God,  was  no  doubt  recognized  and 
valued,  but  it  is  assumed  in  Pr.  to  be  coincident  with  freedom 
from  outward  calamity,  and  is  not  treated  as  an  independent  fact. 

20.  The  form  moDn,  found  elsewhere  only  9I  24''  (and  by  emend.  14^) 
\p  493(^>,  is  prob.  not  abstr.  sing,  for  niaon  (01s.,  Ew.,  De.),  but  plu.  of  exten- 

*  This  is  the  doctrine  of  J.  A.  Alexander's  hymn,  beginning:  "There  is  a  time, 
we  know  not  when"  {Neiv  York  Church  Praise-Book,  1881),  or:  "There  is  a  line, 
by  us  unseen  "  (Congregational  Hymn-Book,  1858),  but  it  is  not  found  here  or  else- 
where in  the  Bible. 


30  PROVERBS 

sion  and  intensity  (Bott.,  Now.,  Siegf.,  Strack  in  Contvi.,  Barth)  ;  its  predicates 
are  sing.  exc.  in  24'^.*  —  njnn,  3  sing.  fern.  Qal  energic  (or  possibly  Q.  plu.  of 
jn);  it  is  unnecessary  to  point  nnn  (as  in  Job  39-^);  Heid.'s  emendation 
r\i-\  nsina,  adopted  by  Oort,  is  simple,  and  secures  parallelism  in  the  nouns, 
but  loses  it  in  the  verbs.  (5  vfivelrai  (Lag.  =  nj^n)  is  perh.  Mid.,  prob.  error 
for  vfivel;  a  Pass,  is  inappropriate  and  improbable.  —  21.  |^  nrcn;  (5  reix^uv 
—  niDin;  so  ST  xnTii  i/ie  tower  (or  castle  or  palace").  The  Partcp.  'n  never 
occurs  alone,  but  always  as  predicate  (7II  9^^  20^  Isa.  22'^  Jer.  4^^  Ez.  ']^'°), 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  can  here  be  taken  as  subst.;  the  reading  □•'D^a 
(8-^)  is  graphically  not  too  hard,  or,  after  (§,  we  may  read  non.  — 1§  on;'::'; 
©  bwaarCbv  —  anr  (here  inappropriate)  to  which  Trapedpevei  is  added,  appar- 
ently to  fill  out  the  clause.  Jag.  thinks  iwl  .  .  .  irapedpeOei  add.  from  8^. — 
Bickell  omits  an;'S'  and  iDsn  (both  of  which,  however,  are  called  for  by  the 
connection),  and  for  n^;73  writes  a-iv.  We  should  rather  omit  -i^ya  and  nncN 
as  glosses.  The  Vrss.  (exc.  <B)  follow  |§  with  unimportant  variations,  and 
the  glosses  must  have  been  early.  — 22.  inn  t;  (@  6<Tot>  clv  xp^vov)  is  always 
interrog.  in  OT.  —  On  o^Pij  see  note  on  v.*  above;  the  final  letter  of  the  stem 
is  omitted  because  not  pronounced  —  onxn  Qal  =  lansn;  (5  '^x'^vrat,  perh. 
free  rendering,  perh.  (Lag.)  scribal  error  for  epwvrai.  —  Instead  of  Perf.  ncn 
we  expect  Impf.  —  (@  aae^els  yevS/ievoi,  perh.  (Lag.)  =  o^S^Do  DPinS  (read 
onvna)  instead  of  |i^  -ji  an^.  —  23.  PJ  laiU'n;  <3  xai  virevdwoi  eyivovro  pos- 
sibly =  i3ini  (Lag.,  Held.,  cf.  Aboth,  i,  11)  or  (Bi.)=  iDa'N''i.  But  as  3in  is 
prob.  a  loan-word  from  the  Aram.,  found  only  Dan.  i^"  (Ez.  18^  the  noun  is 
corruption,  probably  of  3iw'),  its  occurrence  here  is  doubtful.  If  the  line  (v. 23a) 
be  retained,  the  Impf.  (which  cannot  have  Impv.  force)  must  be  changed  to 
Impv.  13VJ*  (the  n  perh.  repeated  from  preceding  n;;^) ;  so  also  Dyserinck.  — 
yaj  gush,  iS*;  elsewhere  only  Hif.  =  speak,  exc.  in  Eccl.  10^,  where  the  text 
is  doubtful.  —  1^  inn;  (5  e^n^s  ■wvori^  prjaiv,  paraphrastic,  perh.  (Lag.)  to  avoid 
the  expression  irvoriv  irp'oiecrOai  =  die  ;  the  verb  has  the  sense  of  utter. — The 
change  of  pers.  in  the  verbs  in  v.^^-  ^  is  a  common  rhetorical  usage  in  OT.  — 
24.  1^  ]>"',  omitted  by  Bi.,  apparently  for  the  sake  of  the  rhythm,  is  desirable, 
if  not  necessary,  as  introduction  to  v.'^'j.  — 1§  ijxcni;  (§  /cat  ovx  vir-qKovaare, 
free  rendering  of  |§,  or  from  some  form  of  jjcr  or  r^y;  (hardly  from  z^z'pn,  as 
in  2'^) ;  SST  linjDin  nS,  from  irDsn  nV.  <SSE  render  aiii'pp  by  a  verb  2  plu., 
assimilation  of  the  translator. — 25.  inn^ini,  noun  as  obj.  of  njN  only  here, 
elsewhere  (as  v.^'')  with  pref.  S,  and  so  perh.  to  be  written  here  (Oort).  The 
two  nouns  in  this  v.  are  plu.  in  (&^,  the  second  in  IL,  variations  coming  from 
script,  defect. — 26.  (5  prefixes  Toiyapovv  as  natural  connective.  — 1§  tin; 
(g  ciTrwXet?,  as  Job  21^  30^2;  Held.,  —  i^N.  —  "^  nns;  (g  6\edpos,  perh.  =  ^^^<D 
(Gr.),  which,  however,  is  nowhere  else  so  rendered  (24*'^  Job  30-*  31-^). — 
27.  K.  nixr,  Q.  nxii:',  both  from  TMi-y;  (g  freely  &(pva},  and  so  ^,  Rashi,  and 
apparently  K. — |^  ins  and  i\s;   ©  dSpv^os  and  KaTa<TTpo<p^,  rhetorical  varia- 

*  On  piSSm,  Eccl.  ii!"  212  al.,  cf.  Barth,  NB.,  §  259  c,  Comms.  of  Tyler  and  Palm, 
and  Strack  in  Stud,  u,  Krit.,  1896,  IV. 


11.  31 

tions  from  the  renderings  in  v.^*^.  —  &  attaches  v.^'^  to  v.^^,  and  (§  adds  a  fourth 
line  (Jag-,  Lag.)  in  v.^^;  these  changes  show  that  the  old  translators  found 
difficulties  in  the  rhythm.  —  Bi.  takes  v.-"-  -''  in  the  following  order  :  -^^-  '^'^^■ 
26b.  27a^  tranferring  hnvj-j  to  v.^^,  throwing  out  DDina  Nbi  in  v.^^  as  scribal 
repetition,  and  writing  ODTC'  instead  of  DDT'Nt.  The  rhythm  thus  gained  is 
hardly  lietter  than  that  of  J|J,  except  in  that  it  gets  rid  of  the  triplet.  It  would 
be  simpler,  if  the  triplet  is  judged  insupportable,  to  regard  v.2''>=  as  a  gloss,  the 
addition  of  a  familiar  expression  (see  note  on  this  line  above) ;  cf.  the  similar 
expression  in  the  triplet  of  \f/  Ii6'',  in  contrast  with  the  couplets  of  i/'  iS^-^. — 
28.  (3  wrongly  puts  v.-**"  as  direct  address. — The  verb  inc*  occurs,  outside  of 
Job,  Pss.,  Fr.,  only  in  Hos.  5^^  Isa.  26";  IL  here  mane  consurgent  (and  similarly 
elsewhere  in  Pr.,  exc.  7!^).  Denominatives  of  the  caus.  stem  (rarely  of  the 
simple  stem)  are  frequent  in  Arab,  and  Heb.  (so  aoa'n)  to  express  the  doing 
of  a  thing  at  a  certain  lime  of  the  day,  but  they  do  not  then  contain  a  substan- 
tively additional  idea  like  seek  ;  the  primitive  sense  of  the  stem  is  doubtful.  On 
the  old  ending  j  of  the  verb  in  ijMiniri  see  Bottcher,  Lehrb.,  II.  §  930,  1047  f-' 
and  Toy,  in  Trans.  Amer.  Phil.  Assoc,  Vol.  XI.  1880.  —  After  'D'l  (g  adds 
Ka.Koi  as  subject,  unnecessary  general  interpretative  gloss,  not  (Lag.)  addition 
of  a  Christian  scribe  to  avoid  contradiction  of  Mt.  7'-^.  —  29.  |§  .""yi;  (5"^  ao- 
(piav,  for  which  we  should  expect  aiadrjaiv,  yet  cr.  is  not  necessarily  Christian 
(Lag.)  or  Alexandrian  (Heid.);  <3^  Traidiav,  %  disciplina77i  (=  ■'DID  v."^). — 
|§  PNTi;  (5^  \670v,  perh.  interpretation  of  an  Alex,  scribe.  —  30.  ®  has  the 
two  nouns  in  plu.  {script,  defect^. — 31.  |^  ns;':: ;  (§  freely  dcre/Seias;  'D  is 
used  in  OT.  in  bad  sense,  exc.  Pr.  22^\  —  32.  n^irc,  always  in  bad  sense  in 
OT.  —  ©  a.vB''  uvyap  -rjdiKovv  vrjiriovs,  taking  '0  as  trans.  =  turn  aside,  oppress, 
hardly  =  retributio7i  (Jag.  because  of  retribution  for  \_their  treatment  of'\ 
children  they  shall  be  slain),  or  from  nflVi'D  (Schleusn.)  assailing,  or  (Lag.) 
maoD  injustice.  —  |^  m'^r;  (g  i^eraa-ixos  =  r^'-'HZ'  or  nVtt'  (so  S^')  SST  ''>7it3 
error,  free  rendering  of  J^.  —  |^  npi  nnsD;  (5  ^3,  d4>6^ujs  dirb  Travrbs  KaKov, 
where  w.  is  insertion  for  sake  of  definiteness.  Cf.  Clem.  Alex.,  162,  181.  —  In 
1^  niSu'  and  pxr  there  seems  to  be  a  verbal  play.- — n^2  is  adverbial.  —  n>'-i 
nno  may  mean  disaster  of  harm,  but  '3,  =  disaster,  is  not  elsewhere  defined  by 
a  noun  of  source. 

II.  A  discourse  setting  forth  the  blessings  conferred  by  Wis- 
dom, the  sage  (and  not  Wisdom  herself)  being  the  speaker.  It 
consists  of  one  well-sustained  sentence  (Ew.),  each  paragraph 
being  linked  to  the  preceding  by  a  connective  word ;  the  rhyth- 
mical arrangement  appears  to  be  in  quatrains.  After  the  protasis, 
stating,  as  the  necessary  condition,  earnest  application  to  the 
teaching  of  wisdom  (v.^"^),  comes  the  long  apodosis  (v.^"),  giving 
a  double  result :  first,  the  knowledge  of  God  and  its  attendant 
blessing  (v.^^,  apparently  an  insertion  or  a  parenthesis)  ;    second 


32  PROVERBS 

(v.^"-^),  the  comprehension  of  probity  (v.^-^),  and  the  possession 
of  wisdom  as  guide  (v.^""),  which  will  deliver  from  evil  men 
(v.^-~^^)  and  evil  women  (v.^^'^^),  and  so  lead  to  the  reward  of  the 
upright  (v.-^),  in  contrast  with  the  fate  of  the  wicked  (v."). 

1-4.   The  condition  of  enjoying  the  protection  of  Wisdom. 

1.  My  son,  if  thou  receive  my  words 

And  lay  up  my  commandments  with  thee, 

2.  So  that  thou  incline  thine  ear  to  wisdom, 
Apply  thy  mind  to  discernment, 

3.  If  thou  cry  to  understanding. 
And  invoke  discernment, 

4.  If  thou  seek  her  as  silver. 

Search  for  her  as  for  hid  treasures  — 

1-4.  Mind,  lit.  heart,  is  (as  always  in  OT.)  the  whole  inward 
nature,  here  particularly  intellectual  capacity,  attention  (so  that  thy 
heart  substantially  =  thyself) .  Discernment  and  understanding 
are  synonyms,  equivalent  to  intellectual  perception  and  wisdom, 
here  with  ethical-religious  coloring.  It  is  unto  (not  fo7-)  discern- 
ment and  understanding  that  the  pupil  is  to  cry  —  he  calls  to  her 
to  come  to  him  and  instruct  and  help  him.  —  The  Grk.  and  Lat. 
Vrss.  divide  the  sentence  differently  from  the  Hebrew.  Grk. : 
If  thou  receive  the  utterance  of  my  commandment  and  hide  it  with 
thee,  thine  ear  shall  heai-ken  to  ivisdom,  and  thou  shall  apply,  etc. ; 
Lat. :  If  thou  receive  .  .  .  and  hide  .  .  . ,  that  thine  ear  may  hearken, 
etc.  {then)  incline  thy  heart,  etc.  But  it  seems  clear  that  the  con- 
dition includes  the  whole  paragraph,  v.^~*.  —  The  sage  emphasizes 
the  necessity  of  earnestness  in  the  pursuit  of  wisdom  —  the  expres- 
sions increase  in  intensity  from  receive,  lay  up  {hide),  incline, 
apply,  to  cry,  lift  up  the  voice,  and  then  seek,  search.  Study  of 
wisdom  is  represented  as  an  organized  discipline  requiring  defi- 
niteness  of  purpose  and  concentration  of  powers.  The  prophets 
demand  conformity  to  the  law  of  Yahweh,  and  exhort  that  he 
himself  be  sought ;  here  attention  is  directed  to  a  principle  and 
body  of  moral  and  religious  knowledge. 

1.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  sage  speaks  on  his  own  authority 
{my  words),  appealing  neither  to  a  divine  revelation  to  himself, 


n.  1-4  33 

nor  to  the  teaching  of  a  human  master  (a  trait  characteristic  of 
the  Wisdom  literature).  He  is  conscious  of  having  words  to  utter 
which  it  behooves  all  men  to  hear.  He  does  not  stand  apart  from 
the  law  of  God,  but  he  is  an  independent  expounder  of  the  divine 
moral  law,  having  received  it  into  his  mind,  and  comprehending 
its  nature  and  effects  intellectually  and  morally.  The  prophet 
speaks  in  the  name  of  Yahweh,  and  gives  a  specific  divine 
message  ;  the  sage  speaks  in  his  own  name,  representing  philo- 
sophical reflection,  the  authority  in  which  is  the  divinely  given 
human  reason  and  conscience.  The  term  commandments,  the 
same  that  is  used  in  the  prophetical  and  legal  books  for  the  moral 
and  ritual  ordinances  of  Yahweh,  here  denotes  the  sage's  own  in- 
structions, which  in  v."  are  identified  with  wisdom.  —  2.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.  Epexegetical  equivalent  of  v},  put  in  Heb.  as 
purpose  {in  order  that  thou  mayst  incline'),  or,  as  we  more  nat- 
urally conceive  it,  as  result  i^so  that).  —  Mirid  (lit. //iv?r/)  is  the 
whole  inward  perceptive  nature.  The  Heb.  word  is  not  properly 
represented  by  Eng.  heart,  which  conveys  to  the  modern  reader 
the  impression  of  a  particularly  emotional  element.  Physiologi- 
cally, the  OT.  locates  emotion  in  the  bowels,  and  intellect  in  the 
heart ;  the  brain  (not  mentioned  in  OT.)  was  not  regarded  by 
the  ancients  as  having  intellectual  significance.* — 3.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  Heb.  begins  with  a  particle  (usually  =for)  which 
may  probably  be  rendered  v^a  (so  RV.)  ;  it  is  merely  resumptive, 
and  may  be  omitted  in  an  Eng.  translation.  The  Syr.  reads  and 
if;  the  Targ.,  by  the  change  of  a  vowel,  has  and  call  understand- 
ing mother.  Invoke,  lit.  lift  up  the  voice  to  =  call  to,  synonym  of 
cry  to.  —  4.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Hid  treasures,  etymo- 
logically  something  hidden,  then  treasure,  from  the  custom,  in  the 
absence  of  secure  places  in  houses,  of  hiding  valuables  in  the 
earth  or  in  holes  in  rocks  :  see  Jer.  41*  Job  3"'  Gen.  43-"  (some- 
thing concealed  and  unknown),  Isa.  45''  (where  the  word  =  simply 
treasure,  the  adj.  hidden  being  added)  ;  cf  Mt.  13''^;  the  notion 
of  something  hidden  away  for  safety  seems  generally  to  inhere  in 
the  expression  ;  here  there  is  also  the  suggestion  that  efibrt  is 
necessary  to  find  and  secure  it. 

*  Of  the  Semitic  languages  it  is  only  Arabic  that  has  a  word  (dimdg)  for  brain ; 
the  origin  of  this  word  is  uncertain  ;  ttie  adj.  daml^-  means  stupid. 
D 


34  PROVERBS 

II.  1.  IDN  (poetic  word)  always  in  plu.  in  Pr.,  nai  being  used  for  sing., 
11^3  (ii_  —  2.  As  to  the  force  of  '^  and  Inf.  here  cf.  Ew.,  §  2?>od ;  <Q  viraKO'jffe- 
rai  crocplas  to  o'vs  (tov;  3L  ui  audiat  sapieniiam  auris  tua,  perh.  free  transla- 
tion, perh.  taking  ^JT^^  as  subject,  as  in  Isa.  32^  (Qal  Impf.),  in  which  case, 
though  Inf.  is  possible,  we  should  expect  Qal  Impf.,  since  |in  never  occurs  as 
subj.  with  Hif.  (apparently  not  in  ip  loi") ;  <S3C  render  by  the  Impf.  in  con- 
tinuation of  the  construction  of  v.i,  perh.  =  J^rprr',  a  good  reading,  yet  it  is 
doubtful  whether  (@S9E  had  a  text  different  from  that  of  ^.  —  The  Impf.  ntsn 
continues  the  telic  or  ecbatic  sense  of  the  preceding  construction;  a  1  before 
it  is  appropriate  but  not  necessary.  (552^  render  it  by  a  Fut.,  IL  by  an  Impv. 
(5  begins  the  apod,  with  v.'. — v?°  is  given  by  (@  in  double  form,  first  =  |^, 
and  then  an  improbable  variation  (regarded  as  genuine  by  Jag.,  Lag.)  in  which 
*]J3S  is  read  instead  of  i^*^,  but  the  introduction  of  son  is  pointless,  doubtless 
scribal  error.  —  3.  •'D  cannot  here  —for  ((@iL),  nor  can  dn  ''J  =  but  (Hilz.), 
with  supposition  of  a  preceding  neg.  clause.  ®  omits  'd  and  inserts  1  before 
DvV;  Ss  has  simply  Nip.""',  perh.  free  rendering  of  |^.  There  is  no  good 
ground  in  ancient  authorities  for  omitting  t,  and  it  must  be  taken  (^  =  yea) 
as  emphatic  introduction  of  the  new  conditional  clause.  — 1§  as;  %  as,  and 
so  De'R.  874  (379)  in  Bibl.  Erfurt.  I.;  see  Berakoth  57  «,  where  this  clause  is 
cited  for  the  interpretation  of  a  dream  respecting  one's  mother,  and  cf.  Cappel., 
Crit.  Sac.  5.  2.  2.  The  reading  of  3C  comes  from  an  old  midrash  (Norzi),  and 
the  omission  of  13  is  a  consequence  of  free  citation.  —  ^  njo;  O  a-o<piai> 
(instead  of  (ppdv-rjaLs),  which  Heid.  takes  to  be  Alexandrian  Jewish,  and  Lag. 
Christian.  —  Some  MSS.  of  (g  (B^b  '"g-  '"f-  A  sup  ras  C)  and  edd.  (Comp.  Aid. 
and  S6^  obel.)  add  at  end  of  v.^  ttjv  8i  aicrO-rjcriv  ^yjT-ficrris  fieyd'Kri  ry  (pcovrj, 
which  Jager  considers  to  be  the  true  (@  text  of  b,  =  S-\j  Sp2  tt'pan  njunSi;  in 
favor  of  this  is  its  divergence  from  |§.  Against  its  being  the  true  text  of  Pr. 
is  perh.  the  parallelism  and  the  occurrence  of  ^'pj  in  the  next  verse. — Gr. 
suggests,  with  little  probability,  that  3''  may  be  dittogram  of  2^ 

5-8.  The  consequence  of  the  condition  expressed  in  v.i-*.     If 

wisdom  be  embraced,  then  the  man  will  understand  the  fear  of 
Yahweh  (v.'),  for  Yahvveh  is  the  source  of  wisdom  (v."),  and  the 
protector  of  the  upright  (v.''  -).  Apparently  an  editorial  insertion. 
The  proper  apodosis  to  v.^"^  is  v."^- :  if  thou  seek  wisdom,  then 
(v.^")  wisdom  will  come  to  thee.  V.'^*  introduce  a  new  thought,  and 
were  probably  added  by  an  editor  who  thought  that  the  central 
idea  of  these  discourses,  the  /ear  of  Yahweh,  ought  not  to  be 
lacking  here.      See  further  in  notes  below. 

5.  Then  shalt  thou  understand  the  fear  of  Yahweh, 
And  find  the  knowledge  of  God; 

6.  For  Yahweh  gives  wisdom. 

Out  of  his  mouth  come  knowledge  and  discernment; 


11.  5-6  35 

7-    K^  '^y^  ^P  deliverance  for  the  upright, 
Is  a  shield  to  those  who  walk  in  integrity; 

8.    He  guards  the  paths  of  probity, 
And  protects  the  way  of  the  pious. 

5.  The  fear  of  Yahweh.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  divine 
name  God  {^Elohini)  occurs  elsewhere  in  Pr.  four  times,  2"  3''  25^ 
30' ;  the  expression  knowledge  of  God  in  OT.  only  here  and  Hos. 
4'  6'^  (Nu.  24^*^  knowledge  of  the  Most  Nigh).  In  the  preexilian 
literature  Elohim  is  used  as  proper  name  only  in  the  Elohistic 
narrative  (Am.  4^'  Hos.  12^'^^  seem  to  be  citations  from  this  nar- 
rative), not  in  any  prophetic  writing  except  in  the  passages  above 
mentioned  (not  in  Hos.  4^  6*^  Mic.  3'^).  After  the  exile  it  grad- 
ually became  a  proper  name  (the  local,  national  sense  of  Yahweh 
disappearing),  and  in  Pr.  =  Yahweh.  The  change  of  name  here 
is  rhetorical  variation.  The  fear  of  Yahtveh  (the  fear  or  rever- 
ence directed  toward  him)  is  equivalent  to  the  knowledge  of  God 
(the  knowledge  which  has  to  do  with  him).  The  first  expression 
represents  the  God  of  Israel  as  the  source  of  all  ethical  authority 
and  law,  and  reverent  obedience  to  him  as  the  principle  of  life  ; 
the  second  declares  that  true  learning  is  concerned  with  the  ethical 
character  of  God  and  the  duties  which  he  imposes ;  knowledge  is 
not  only  intellectual  apprehension,  but  also  communion  of  soul. 
Wisdom  is  thus  conceived  of  as  both  an  attitude  of  soul  and  a 
body  of  knowledge,  all  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  This  old- 
Hebrew  point  of  view  stands  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs  in  organic 
union  with  the  human  ethical  conception  of  life  in  this  way  :  the 
moral  content  of  life  is  based  not  on  ritual  and  ecclesiastical  law, 
but  on  reason  and  conscience,  and  these  are  the  gift  of  God  (see 
next  verse) .  We  have  here,  on  the  one  hand,  the  recognition  of 
the  mind  of  man  as  a  source  of  truth,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
assertion  that  the  moral  potency  of  the  mind  is  the  creation  of 
God.  This  larger  conception  came  to  the  Jews  through  natural 
growth  under  the  stimulus  of  foreign  (mainly  Greek)  thought. 
Instead  o(  shalt  (which  implies  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
speaker,  or  else  is  hypothetical)  we  may  write  7ailt  (which  ex- 
presses futurity  simply).  Cf.  note  on  i''.  —  6.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. Yahweh  the  source  of  wisdom.  This  is  stated  as  the 
ground  of  the  affirmation  of  v.',  and  brings  this  paragraph  into 


36  PROVERBS 

logical  relation  with  v.^"^.  He  who  seeks  wisdom  will  understand 
the  fear  or  knowledge  of  God,  because  all  knowledge  comes  from 
him.  The  reference  is  probably  to  the  whole  moral  thought  and 
conduct  of  man  —  human  instincts,  the  results  of  experience,  the 
common-law  of  morality,  as  well  as  the  ethical  prescriptions  con- 
tained in  the  Israelitish  canonical  and  oral  codes.  The  stress, 
however,  is  laid  on  man's  moral  nature,  which  is  represented  as  a 
divine  gift.  —  The  expression  out  of  his  mouth  (Grk.  fro?n  his 
presence)  means  from  him ;  he  utters  his  command  and  man 
receives  wisdom  ;  the  reference  seems  not  to  be  to  his  giving  a 
law  (the  Tora),  which  would  not  agree  with  the  general  connec- 
tion. The  mouth  of  Yahweh,  a  frequent  expression  in  the  proph- 
ets, is  found  only  here  in  Pr.  (Str.)  ;  here  alone  God  is  teacher, 
elsewhere  Wisdom.  The  expression  occurs  in  Job  22*^,  and  in  a 
few  late  i//s,  105^  119'-*®  138'*.  —  7,  8.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Yahweh  protects  the  upright.  The  word  rendered  deliveratice 
occurs,  except  Isa.  28-^  and  (the  textually  doubtful)  Mic.  6^,  only 
in  Job  and  Pr.  It  appears  to  signify  the  act  or  power  of  estab- 
lishment or  arrangement,  and  so  fertility  in  expedients,  wisdom, 
and,  as  result,  achievement,  help,  deliverance.  The  last  sense  is 
the  one  here  naturally  suggested  by  the  parallel  shield.  This  latter 
word  is  to  be  taken  (in  the  present  Heb.  text)  as  in  apposition 
with  the  subject  (Yahweh)  of  the  preceding  clause. — The  syn- 
onymous expressions  the  upright  and  those  who  walk  in  integrity 
indicate  right  conduct  in  general ;  the  upright  are  those  who  con- 
form their  lives  to  the  straight  line  of  moral  and  religious  pro- 
priety ;  integrity  is  perfectness  of  life.  The  reference  is  to  general 
substantial  rectitude,  not  to  absolute  freedom  from  sin  or  error,  or 
to  the  inner  life  of  the  soul ;  cf.  Gen.  20'''  i  K.  9*  i/^  loi^  Pr.  19^  — 
8  presents  the  same  thought  in  the  form  of  purpose  or  result 
(epexegetical  equivalent),  so  as  to  guard,  =  he  guards  the  way, 
that  is,  the  life  and  interests,  of  those  who  obey  him.  The  ex- 
pression guard  the  paths  of  probity  is  pecuhar  and  difficult;  the 
verb  means  either  keep,  observe,  or  guard,  have  an  eye  on  ;  in  the 
former  sense  it  is  followed  as  object  by  the  law  observed,  as  in  3* 
5-  28"  Dt.  33^  \\i  119^^  al.;  in  the  latter  sense  by  the  person  or 
concrete  thing  to  be  defended,  as  in  2"  4"  Isa.  26"  al.  (once,  22^-, 
by  knowledge),  or  by  the  thing  to  be  watched,  as  in  Job  7"^     As 


II.  6-8  37 

Yahweh  is  subject,  it  is  the  latter  sense  that  appears  to  be 
intended  here  ;  yet  everywhere  else  the  path  of  probity  (or  its 
equivalent)  is  something  that  is  walked  in,  as  in  v.-",  not  guarded, 
though  the  way  of  a  man  is  said  to  be  scrutinized  (Job  13^)  or 
controlled  {\\i  139'^)  by  God.  As  the  text  stands,  paths  of  probity 
must  be  regarded  as  a  poetical  variation  of  paths  of  the  upright 
(cf.  v.-"),  equivalent  to  the  parallel  way  of  the  pious  (Heb.  his 
pious  ones,  RV.  saints).  On  probity  see  note  on  i^. — The  pious 
man  (TDn)  is  he  who  is  characterized  \)\  kindness,  love  (ncn). 
The  stem  seems  to  signify  any  strong  feeling  toward  a  person, 
whether  unfriendly,  envy  (as  in  Arabic),  or  friendly,  kindness  (as 
in  Heb.),  or  both  (.as  in  Aramaic,  and  cf.  14^  25^"  Lev.  20'^). 
The  substantive  is  used  of  kindness  shown  to  man  by  man  (Gen. 
24^-)  or  by  God  (Ex.  34*^,  often  in  Pss.),  whether  of  man's  acts 
toward  God  (Hos.  6^«  x\i  89-'^  2  Chr.  32"-  35-"  Neh.  13")  is  doubt- 
ful. The  adj.  is  used  twice  of  God  (Jer.  3'^  \\i  i8-^<^*"  =  2  Sam. 
22-"),  many  times  of  man.  It  may  be  active,  —loving,  or  passive, 
=  beloved.  It  is  the  former  sense  in  which  it  is  used  of  God,  and 
this  seems  to  be  its  meaning  throughout  OT.,  though  the  other 
is  possible,  and,  in  most  cases,  appropriate  ;  the  deity  might  be 
thought  of  as  the  bestower  and  the  worshipper  as  the  recipient  of 
favors,  or  the  lattet  might  be  regarded  as  bound  to  his  god  by  a 
sentiment  of  love  and  devotion,  which,  at  first  physical  and  mer- 
cenary, would  grow  more  and  more  ethically  and  spiritually  pure  ; 
the  active  sense  is  favored  by  the  parallelism  in  \p  i8-"'<-'",  ?vith  the 
kind  (merciful,  good)  thou  wilt  show  thyself  kind.  The  adj. 
occurs  first  in  the  second  half  of  the  seventh  century  (Mic.  7^  Dt. 
33*  Jer.  3'^),  and  elsewhere  only  in  late  poetry  (i  Sam.  2^  2  Chr. 
6"  Pr.  2^  and  Pss.).  When  it  began  to  be  employed  in  the  sense 
of  devoted  to  God,  pious  (the  rendering  saint  is  inappropriate) 
can  hardly  be  determined.  In  the  second  century,  in  the  struggle 
between  Antiochus  Epiphanes  and  the  Jews,  it  appears  as  a  tech- 
nical term  to  designate  those  who  strictly  maintained  the  religion 
of  Israel  against  the  inroads  of  Hellenism  (i  Mac.  2''^  'Ao-tSatot, 
Hasidean  or  Asidean).*  In  some  Pss.  (79-  86~  116'^  al.)  it  means 
pious  Israel  in  contrast  with  surrounding  heathen  oppressors  or 

*  Cf.  Wellhausen,  Die  Pharisaer  u.  d.  Saducder ;    Schiirer,  Hist,  of  the  Jew. 
People,  II.  ii.  26. 


38  PROVERBS 

apostate  Jews.  In  Pr.  it  is  found  only  here,  in  an  editorial  inser- 
tion (perhaps  of  the  second  century  B.C.)  ;  it  is  here  a  general 
term  for  pious. 

6.  (gB  X '^  (Tvvr)(Tei%  06/3oi',  for  which  Clem.  Al.,  121,  has  vo-riaeis  Oeoj^^eiav. 
In  v.'^''  <§^  =  1^;  CI.  Alex.  k.  aiad-rjcriv  deiav  euprj(reis  (and  so  Orig.),  free  ren- 
dering, probably  original  (Lag.).  —  6.  ||J  vsc;  ©^  dirb  irpoaunrov  avroO  = 
rjsr,  apparently  scribal  error. — 7.  K  ]Di\  Q  (and  some  MSS.),  better,  joi'i 
(1L  custodief),  since  the  couplets  appear  to  be  independent  statements; 
(5  K.  erjcravpL^ei,  =  |§  Kethib  (not  =  las),  as  in  i^^  — pj  nv^-in;  (g  (MSS.) 
ffdiT-qpiav,  1L  saluteni,  CI.  Al.  ^or)deiav,  2b  in  MS.  (cited  by  Levy,  Chald. 
IVbch.')  I'-ng,  in  Bibl.  Rab.,  1568,  ■'■■naD  /i^/)i,  m  Buxt.,  Lag.  nin^r  glory. — 
1^  flD,  rendered  by  vb.  or  partcp.  in  the  Vrss. :  (g  VTrepaffwieT,  IL  ei  proleget, 
S2r  pom;  ^  is  curt  poetic  construction,  instead  of  the  ordinary  ni.t  'C;  we 
expect  a  verb  ^protect  (but  the  stem  does  not  occur  in  OT.  in  this  sense)  or 
a  noun  =  protection  as  object  of  jqs''  (but  no  such  noun  suggests  itself);  'd 
cannot  be  object  of  "i  —  f^  an  "'pSn'^;  (§  ttjv  wopeiav  avrwv  =  anD''Sn'?  (Vog., 
Schleusn.),  as  in  i/-  67  (68)'-^^.  —  8.  ||J  li':'^,  equivalent  proposition  represented 
as  purpose  or  result;  S  has  i  and  Perf.,  and  we  may  here  read  Impf ;  Gr. 
-isr,  but  this  does  not  accord  with  ^.  — |^  jou'^  is  given  in  all  the  Vrss.,  except 
that  (§  (except  Cod.  23)  has  plu. — K.  lOn  sing.;  Q  and  many  Heb.  MSS. 
and  all  Vrss.  have  plu.,  as  the  context  requires;  ST  omits  the  suffix.  —  Oort,  to 
secure  perfect  parallelism,  reads :  nna'i  iiDn  71-11  and  (t/iat  they  may')  pre- 
serve the  way  of  piety  tozvard  him  (or,  the  way  of  his  kindness);  but  this  is 
not  in  keeping  with  the  general  idea  in  v.^~*,  in  which  Yahiveh  is  subject,  and 
iiD."!  "i"n  is  hard;   it  would  be  easier  to  change  'JD.:':;  to  ai^"  or  opii'  (cf.  v^"). 

9-22.  The  proper  conclusion  to  the  condition  stated  in  v.i-*  : 
first,  the  comprehension  of  righteousness  (v.^ '"),  then  the  guid- 
ance and  protection  of  Wisdom  (v.'"'"),  with  the  reward  of 
goodness  and  the  punishment  of  wickedness  (v.-'  -). — V.-"  should 
probably  be  transposed  so  as  to  stand  next  after  v.^.  In  its  present 
position  it  interrupts  the  connection  between  v.^"  and  v.^\  while 
by  its  thought  it  attaches  itself  naturally  to  vA 

9,  20.   Comprehension  of  rectitude. 

9.    Then  shalt  thou  understand  righteousness  and  probity, 
<  Shalt  keep  >  every  path  of  good, 
20.    That  thou  mayest  walk  in  the  way  of  good  men, 
Mayest  follow  the  paths  of  the  righteous. 

9.  The  verse  is  not  a  poetical  couplet  in  the  Heb.,  which  reads 
in  second  line  :  ami  rectitude  —  every  path  of  goof,  giving  the  first 


II.  9,  2o  39 

three  nouns  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur  in  i''.  There  the 
rhythmical  form  is  proper ;  here  it  is  defective,  and  (though  it  is 
possible  that  the  three  nouns  may  have  been  originally  taken  from 
i')  it  seems  better  (by  an  easy  emendation)  to  write  the  verb 
which  the  parallelism  calls  for  :  cf  the  expressions  keep  (=/o//c>w) 
the  paths  in  v.-",  and  keep  my  ways  in  8^'.  On  the  nouns  in  first 
line  see  notes  on  i^.  —  Path  (2'*-'*  4^'-''  ^^■'^'^  \\i  23")  is  lit.  wagon- 
road,  then  any  tvay  ;  the  following  ^<?6'(^/  defines  the  path  as  lying 
in  the  domain  or  leading  in  the  direction  of  what  is  (morally) 
good.  —  The  theti  attaches  this  section  to  v.^"* :  "  if  thou  earnestly 
seek  wisdom,  thou  shalt  be  morally  enlightened,  shalt  acquire  intel- 
lectual acumen  in  ethical  questions,  and  [if  the  emendation  sug- 
gested above  be  correct]  the  power  of  right  action  "  ;  freedom  of 
choice  is  implied,  and  it  is  assumed  that  he  who  fully  knows  the 
good  way  will  follow  it.*  On  the  substitution  of  wilt  for  sha/t 
see  note  on  v.^  above.  —  20.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  purpose 
that  thou  tnayest  walk  involves  result.  The  verse  thus  expands 
the  second  line  of  v.^.  —  At  the  end  of  first  line  the  Heb.  has 
simply  the  word  good  (plural)  ;  the  parallelism  favors  the  render- 
ing good  men  (not good  things).  Good  is  the  general  term  for 
fitness  of  all  sorts,  here  used  of  moral  fitness  and  rectitude.  — 
Folloiu  is  ht.  keep. — The  righteous  or  just  man  is  he  who  does 
justice,  rightness  (see  note  on  i^).  The  epithet  is  applied  in  OT. 
to  man  and  to  God,  but  its  significance,  depending  on  the  con- 
tent of  the  current  idea  of  justice,  varies  with  the  different  periods 
of  Heb.  history.  Yahweh  is  just  to  a  man  or  to  Israel  when  he 
acts  in  accordance  with  natural  or  legal  right.  In  the  earlier 
phase  of  thought  Israel's  national  right  was  held  to  be  victory  over 
its  enemies,  and  justice  came  to  be  equivalent  to  victory,  as  in 
Ju.  5"  I  S.  12''  Jen  51^''.  The  purely  ethical  conception  grew 
with  the  general  ethical  growth  of  the  people ;  and  in  the  pro- 
phetical and  later  books  (see,  for  ex.,  Ez.  18)  tends  to  become 
predominant,  though  the  primitive  idea  lingers  in  places.  In  Pr. 
righteous  =  morally  and  religiously  good  in  general ;  the  word 
(like  good  2iwA perfect)  expresses  not  absolute  sinlessness,  but  gen- 
eral rectitude.      In  late  exilian  and  postexilian  writings  it  is  often 

*  So  Plato  and  the  Stoics. 


40  PROVERBS 

a  synonym  for  the  faithful  part  of  Israel  (Isa.  53"  26^  ij/  3i^^(^^>  94^1 
a/.).  —  The  Grk.  reads  the  verse  as  a  conditional  sentence,  and 
connects  it  immediately  with  v.^^ :  /or  if  they  had  gone  in  good 
paths  they  would  have  found  the  paths  of  righteousness  easy ;  the 
Heb.  is  preferable.  —  Bickell  omits  the  verse  as  marring  the 
strophic  structure  of  the  paragraph  ;  but  this  difficulty  disappears 
in  the  arrangement  here  adopted. 

10-19.  The  moral  protection  afforded  by  Wisdom. — Wisdom, 
entering  the  soul  (v.^-)  and  keeping  watch  over  it  (v."),  saves 
the  man  from  the  influence  of  bad  men  (v.^-'^^)  and  bad  women 

10.  For  wisdom  shall  enter  thy  mind, 

And  knowledge  shall  be  pleasant  to  thee, 

11.  Discretion  shall  watch  over  thee, 
Discernment  shall  guard  thee, 

12.  To  save  thee  from  the  manner  of  life  of  bad  men. 
From  men  whose  speech  is  wicked, 

13.  Who  leave  the  paths  of  uprightness, 
To  walk  in  ways  of  darkness, 

14.  Who  rejoice  in  doing  wrong, 
[And]  in  iniquities  take  delight, 

15.  Whose  paths  are  crooked. 
And  iniquitous  their  ways  — 

16.  To  save  thee  from  the  lewd  woman, 
From  the  harlot  with  her  cajoling  words, 

17.  Who  forsakes  the  friend  of  her  youth. 
And  forgets  the  covenant  of  God. 

18.  For  her  house  leads  down(?)  to  Death, 
And  her  paths  unto  the  Shades; 

19.  None  that  go  to  her  return. 
Or  attain  the  paths  of  life. 

10,  11.  Wisdom  as  guardian.  —  10.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
The  entrance  of  Wisdom  into  the  soul ;  cf.  Job  14"^.  Knowledge 
=  wisdom ;  see  note  on  i".  —  On  mind  (lit.  hearty  see  note  on 
V."  above.  —  Enter  and  be  pleasant  to  are  synonyms,  =  "  become 
acceptable  to  thee,  a  part  of  thy  intellectual  and  moral  being."  — 
77/^,?  is  lit.  thy  soul ;  the  term  soul  means  the  principle  of  life, 
and  so  life  or  being,  and  my  soul,  thy  soul,  are  common  expres- 


II.   lo-ii  41 

sions  in  OT.  for  me  (or,  myself),  thee  (or,  thyself).  The  Heb. 
word  does  not  emphasize  spirituality  of  thought,  but,  being  a  gen- 
eral term  for  the  principle  of  life,  it  may,  like  its  synonym  mind, 
express  any  intellectual  power.  — 11.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary. 
On  discretion  (or,  insight )  and  discermnent  (or,  intelligence')  see 
notes  on  i^  and  2'^.  —  The  guardianship  (the  result  of  Wisdom's 
entrance  into  the  soul)  is  subjective  —  the  man's  security  is  in  his 
own  reason  and  conscience,  in  the  law  of  life  which  these  give ; 
the  whole  is,  however,  viewed  as  finally  the  ordination  of  God, 
though  not  in  the  form  of  an  external  law.  —  These  two  verses 
give  the  ground  of  the  preceding  statement  (v.^-*^)  ;  understand- 
ing will  be  gained  by  the  entrance  of  Wisdom  into  the  mind,  not 
in  a  forced  manner,  but  so  that  she  shall  be  acceptable,  pleasa7it 
to  the  soul.  The  man  is  represented  as  assimilating  wisdom, 
coming  into  harmony  with  it,  following  it  not  through  external 
pressure,  but  by  inward  impulse  ;  to  do  right  becomes  delightful 
to  him.  This  is  largely  because  he  sees  the  advantages  of  recti- 
tude (v.-')  ;  but  there  is  probably  still  to  be  recognized  here  the 
germ  of  the  idea  of  transformation  of  nature  (a  development  out 
of  such  conceptions  as  those  of  Jer.  31'^^  Ez.  36-').  —  The  Grk. 
takes  v.^"  as  condition,  and  v."  as  its  result :  10.  for  if  wisdom 
enter  .  .  .  and  knowledge  seem  beautiful  ...  11.  good  counsel 
shall  guard  thee,  etc.  (the  same  construction  may  be  got  from  the 
Heb.  by  rendering  ivhen  Wisdom  shall  enter) .  This  construction 
is  not  decidedly  against  the  context,  and  gives  a  good  sense  ;  it 
seems,  however,  to  be  less  natural  than  the  causal  construction 
{for),  not  because  the  nouns  in  v."  are  identical  in  meaning  with 
those  in  v.^"  (such  repetition  would  not  be  against  the  manner  of 
Pr.),  but  because,  as  v."-"  state  the  result  of  the  condition  of  v.^"*, 
we  more  naturally  expect  in  v.^"  not  a  new  condition,  but  a  ground 
or  reason  of  the  preceding  statement.  The  general  sense  is  the 
same  in  the  two  constructions.  There  is  no  need  to  take  v.^"-  '^  as 
parentheses  ;  v.^"  is  logically  connected  with  v."  (see  below) .  — 
Bickell,  in  order  to  gain  an  additional  couplet  (an  omission  being 
indicated,  as  he  thinks,  by  a  discrepancy  of  gender  in  the  Heb.) 
expands  v.^"  as  follows  :  for  wisdom  shall  enter  into  thy  mind  and 
knowledge  unto  thy  soul  \_shall  come,  instruction  shall  be  good  to 
thy  mind,  and  learning  to  thy  soul^  shall  be  pleasant.     This  inser- 


42  PROVERBS 

tion  is  without  support  from  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  and  seems  not  to  be 
necessary  or  probable  ;  the  text,  as  it  stands,  gives  a  satisfactory 
sense  and  a  good  rhythm,  and  the  quatrain,  which  is  here  desid- 
erated, is  gained  by  the  transference  of  v.^*^.  On  the  grammatical 
point  see  critical  note. 

12-15.  First,  Wisdom  saves  from  bad  men.  — 12.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Instead  of  the  Infin.  to  save,  expressing  purpose  or  result, 
we  may,  by  a  slight  change,  read  she  ivill save  (Bickell) ;  the  change 
does  not  affect  the  general  sense. — Manner  of  life  is  lit.  way,  and 
whose  speech  is  wicked  is  lit.  who  speak  zvickedness  (or  wrong  or 
ivicked  things).  The  Heb.  has,  in  second  clause,  sing,  man  (appar- 
ently used  in  collective  sense)  ;  the  plu.  form  accords  better  in 
Eng.  with  the  following  verses.  Instead  of  way  of  bad  {meii)  we 
may  render  way  of  the  dad  {man),  and  so  in  second  clause  the 
man  who  speaks ;  or  zvay  of  evil;  or,  possibly,  evil  (or,  wicked) 
way.  The  concrete  form  {man  or  men)  in  first  clause  is  favored  by 
the  parallelism,  and  the  plu.  is  more  natural  here  in  English.  The 
adj.  bad  or  evil  (ui)  is  used  in  OT.  of  any  sort  of  badness,  of 
body  (Gen.  41'^),  of  appearance  or  deportment  (Ex.  21*),  of  expe- 
rience or  fortune  (Jer.  4"),  of  moral  or  religious  conduct  {passim) ; 
it  describes  whatever  does  not  conform  to  a  norm  —  it  is  the  oppo- 
site of  the  equally  general  term  good  (Sits)  ;  it  is  here  the  morally 
bad.  Cf.  note  on  the  subst.  evil,  v^.  —  A  wrong  thing  (ni32nn) 
is  that  which  is  turned  aside  from  the  path  of  right ;  its  meaning 
is  not  precisely  expressed  by  perverse  (which  answers  to  it  etymo- 
logically),  or  by  RV.  froward  (which  =  refractory,  perverse,  ob- 
stinate) ;  it  may  sometimes  be  properly  rendered  hy  false,  but  in 
Pr.  it  is  a  general  term,  signifying  that  which  is  opposed  to  the 
right  (=  wicked,  bad)  ;  it  occurs  in  Dt.  32^  {they  are  a  genera- 
tion given  to  falsities,  persons  in  whom  no  confidence  can  be  placed), 
and  elsewhere  only  in  Pr.  —  Bad  men  are  here  described  by  their 
conduct  or  manner  of  life  {way)  and  their  speech  ;  the  two  things 
are  treated  as  equivalent  each  to  the  other,  speech  being  regarded 
as  the  indication  of  thought  and  life.  The  sage  lays  stress  on  the 
power  of  evil  association  :  to  avoid  bad  men  is  to  be  saved  from 
evil  suggestion  from  without,  from  the  reinforcement  that  sym- 
pathy gives  to  the  evil  within  the   heart.      He  warns  against  a 


II.  II-I4  43 

malign  moral  influence,  which  is  not  the  only  one  in  life,  but  is 
the  most  obvious,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful.  Rashi  says  that 
the  men  here  referred  to  are  Epicureans  (that  is,  heretics  in  gen- 
eral), who  seduce  Israel  to  idolatry  and  pervert  the  law  to  evil.* 
— 13.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Description  of  the  conduct  of  bad 
men.  Uprightness  is  a  general  term  for  rectitude  ;  it  appears  first 
in  the  Deuteronomistic  vocabulary  (Dt.  9^  i  K.  9^  i  C.  29"),  and 
then  only  in  the  Wisdom  books;  it  always  has  a  religious  coloring, 
except  in  Job  (r',  and,  perhaps,  Eccl.  12^".  That  these  men  leave 
{or  forsake)  rectitude  does  not  imply  that  they  had  once  followed 
right  paths,  but  only  that  they  have  chosen  other  paths.  Their 
walk  is  the  way  of  darkness  in  contrast  with  the  light  which  illu- 
mines the  way  of  wisdom,  the  darkness  (as  the  parallelism  sug- 
gests) here  characterizing  the  sphere  (as  in  Jno.  3"""^  rather  than 
the  result  (as  in  4^^)  ;  evil  (in  contrast  with  uprightness)  seeks 
the  concealment  of  darkness.  Such,  from  the  parallelism,  seems 
to  be  the  sense  in  this  passage,  though  everywhere  else  in  OT. 
where  light  and  darkness  are  used  figuratively  it  is  the  guidance 
and  safety  of  the  former  and  the  danger  of  the  latter  that  are  indi- 
cated (Isa.  ^'  42«  .A  27I  Pr.  4^«  6^^  13"  16^^  Isa.  58'«  ^  18''''^'  Eccl. 
2"  Pr.  20^),  and  so  it  may  be  here  with  the  term  darkness.  The 
employment  of  the  two  terms  to  express  spheres  of  life  charac- 
terizes the  Mazdean  sacred  books.  — 14.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
A  stronger  touch.  The  connective  and  is  inserted  in  accordance 
with  the  general  norm  of  the  couplets.  Iniquities  (lit.  iniquities 
of  evil)  is  the  same  word  in  the  Heb.  that  is  rendered  wrong 
things  in  v.'- ;  there  the  reference  was  to  words,  here  it  is  to 
deeds  —  in  both  cases  it  is  the  opposite  of  right  that  is  meant;  it 
is  here  (if  the  text  be  correct),  for  the  sake  of  emphasis  and 
vigor,  qualified  by  the  term  evil  (or,  ivickedness) .  —  The  rejoice 
and  delight  are  a  heightening  of  \k\&  forsake  of  the  preceding  verse  ; 
bad  men,  it  is  said,  not  only  deliberately  choose  wicked  ways,  but 
also  take  pleasure  in  them.  The  sage,  in  stating  this  familiar  fact, 
is  probably  to  be  understood  not  as  implying  that  men  delight  in 
evil  as  evil,  but  only  as  meaning  that  wrongdoing,  interwoven  into 
life,  becomes  a  source  of  enjoyment,  the  enjoyment  coming  from 

*  On  the  terms  Epicureans  and  Minim  (Talmudic  designations  of  heretics)  see 
Buxtorf,  Lex.,  and  Cheyne's  Cyclop.  Biblica,  Art.  "Canon." 


44  PROVERBS 

the  momentary  good  result,  not  from  the  consciousness  of  commit- 
ting an  unlawful  or  unrighteous  deed.  Other  things  being  equal, 
men,  as  a  rule,  prefer  right  to  wrong.  The  murderer  in  i^^'^^  is 
represented  as  committing  murder  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  to  get 
gain  of  goods ;  his  wrong  is  not  in  desiring  wealth,  but  in  using 
improper  means  to  secure  it.  Wicked  men  are  those  whose  con- 
sciences are  not  tender  and  strong  enough  to  prevent  their  enjoy- 
ing good  things  evilly  gained.  There  is  a  formal  resemblance 
between  this  v.  and  Job  3",  perh.  imitation  by  our  author.*  — 
15.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Variation  of  the  preceding  verses 
—  description  of  bad  life  as  departure  from  the  right  path.  The 
Heb.  reads  (with  insertion  of  a  pronoun)  zuhose  paths  are  crooked 
and  {ihey)  iniquitous  in  their  ways  (so  substantially  AV.).  Slight 
changes  in  the  text  give  the  renderings  who  are  crooked  in  their 
paths  and  iniquitous  in  their  ways  (so  substantially  Oort,  RV.), 
or  who  make  crooked  their  paths  (Dyserinck,  Kamphausen)  a?id 
in  their  ways  turn  into  bypaths  (Kamp.),  or  tvhose  paths  are 
crooked  and  their  ways  iniquitous  (so  substantially  most  of  the 
Ancient  Vrss.).  Of  these  the  last  is  simplest,  requiring  only  the 
omission  of  one  letter  of  the  Heb. ;  the  meaning  is  the  same  in 
all.  —  Two  new  adjs.  are  here  introduced,  synonymous  with  each 
other  and  with  the  iniquities  of  v.^'* ;  they  occur  in  OT.  in  the 
ethical  sense  only.  Crooked  (Cpu)  is  that  which  departs  from 
the  right  way  (aUied  to  false)  ;  outside  of  Pr.  the  adj.  occurs  in 
Dt.  32^  i/^  i8-«(2')  (z=  2  S.  22^)  loi*,  the  vb.  in  Mic.  f  Isa.  59**  Job 
<)^.  Iniquitous  also  (r'^D,  found,  outside  of  Pr.,  only  in  Isa.  30'-) 
is  that  which  turns  aside  into  wrong  ways,  morally  perverted, 
wrong,  false. 

16-19.  The  second  class  of  evil  persons  from  whom  Wisdom 
delivers  men  :  licentious  women.  The  prominence  given  in  Pr., 
especially  in  chs.  1-9,  to  the  vice  of  licentiousness  shows  that  it 
was  a  notorious  social  evil  at  the  time  when  the  book  was  written. 
In  the  preexilian  and  exihan  books  comparatively  little  is  said  of 
it.  That  there  were  harlots  and  adulteresses  in  Israel  from  an 
early  time  is  shown  by  such  passages  as  Judg.  11^  (Jephthah's 
mother)  i  K.  3^''  (the  two  women  who  appeared  before  Solomon) 

*  Cf.  Strack,  Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1896,  IV. 


II.  i4-i6  45 

Hos.  3^  (Hosea's  wife),  by  the  prophetic  denunciations  of  the 
crime  (Hos.  4^  Jer.  7^  Mai.  3'^),  by  the  laws  against  it  (Ex.  20" 
Dt.  22  Lev.  20^^),  and  by  the  employment  of  the  terms  harlotry 
and  adultery  (in  Pent.  Judg.  Chr.  Ps.  Hos.  Mic.  Jer.  Ez.)  as  des- 
ignations of  religious  unfaithfulness.  Prostitution  was  a  feature  of 
the  Canaanitish  religious  cults,  and  made  its  way  into  Israel,  If 
we  exclude  the  references  to  this  last  usage,  the  mention  of  the 
vice  in  question  in  the  prophetical  books  is  not  frequent ;  less 
stress  is  laid  on  it  than  on  the  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich. 
In  a  polygamous  society  and  in  a  country  without  great  cities  it 
was  not  likely  to  grow  to  great  proportions.  The  case  was  differ- 
ent when  the  Jews  were  dispersed  through  the  world,  and  lived  in 
cities  like  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria,  centres  of  wealth  and  luxury, 
inhabited  by  mixed  populations.  This  form  of  debauchery  then 
became  commoner  and  better  organized.  Hetairae  flocked  to 
the  cities.  Naukratis  in  the  Egyptian  Delta  was  famous  under 
the  Ptolemies  for  its  brilliant  venal  women.  The  temptations  of 
Alexandria  are  illustrated  by  the  story  told  by  Josephus  {A?it  12, 
4,  6)  of  Joseph  the  son  of  Tobias.  The  picture  of  society  given 
in  Ben-Sira  (9^^  19^  2^^^^"  25^*^-*^  26^^-  42^-"),  based  on  life  in 
Jerusalem  and  Alexandria  in  the  third  and  second  centuries  B.C., 
agrees  in  substance  with  the  descriptions  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs. 
The  tone  is  modern.  Instead  of  the  old  clan-life  of  Israel,  with 
its  definite  family-ties  and  local  bounds,  we  have  the  personal  free- 
dom of  the  Greek  period  in  Syria  and  Egypt.  This  tone,  most 
observable  in  chs.  1-9,  is  not  wholly  wanting  in  the  rest  of  the 
book.  The  woman  is  represented  as  the  temptress,  the  man  as 
the   silly  victim. 

16.  Synonymous,  ternary.  To  save  may  be  read  (as  in  v.^-) 
she  will  save.  The  terms  lewd  woman  and  harlot  are  both  lit. 
strange  woman  (or,  stranger^.  With  her  cajoling  words,  lit.  : 
who  makes  smooth  her  words  (RV.  flatters,  etc.).  The  reference 
is  to  dissolute  women,  but  the  precise  sense  in  which  the  term 
strange  is  here  used  is  differently  understood.  The  Heb.  has  two 
synonyms,  both  of  which  occur  in  O  T.  in  three  significations  :  one 
w-ho  is  outside  the  circle  of  one's  family  or  one's  clan  ;  an  alien 
to  one's  nation,  -^  "  foreigner"  ;    one  not  one's  self,  =  "  another." 


46  PROVERBS 

For  the  first  term  (it)  see  i  K.  3^^  Dt.  25^  Nu.  i^^;  Ex.  30^'^  Lev. 
22^^;  Pr.  6'  ii''^  iV  27-  (this  third  sense  is  found  only  in  Pr.). 
For  the  second  term  ('"133)  see  Gen.  31'^  Job  19^^  ij/  69''''^^  Eccl.  6^; 
Dt.  15'^  I  K.  11^;  Pr.  27-.  Women  of  this  class  were  doubtless 
often  non-Israelites,  and  such  might  be  the  sense  here  (so  Siegfr., 
Stade,  and,  so  far  as  the  second  term  is  concerned,  De.)  ;  but 
the  general  character  of  the  descriptions  here  and  in  chs.  5,  7, 
9^^"'^,  and  the  contrast  expressed  in  5^^"°,  make  it  almost  certain 
that  the  writer  has  in  mind  dissolute  women  without  regard  to 
nationality,  and  that  the  straiige  woman  is  one  who  is  not  bound 
to  the  man  by  legal  ties,  who  is  outside  the  circle  of  his  proper 
relations,  that  is,  a  harlot  or  an  adulteress.  Rashi :  Epicureanism.* 
—  The  smooth,  cajohng  words  are  given  in  7^'^-" ;  7*  is  identical 
with  our  verse,  except  in  the  first  word  —  the  similarity  between 
the  themes  of  the  two  discourses  makes  the  repetition  natural. — 
The  Grk.  connects  v.^*^  ^^  not  with  v.",  but  with  v.^^,  taking  them  as 
the  description  of  the  influence  of  bad  men,  and  following  a  Heb. 
text  very  different  from  ours  :  \(y.  To  remove  thee  far  from  the  right 
way  and  estrange  thee  from  lighteous  opinion.  My  son,  let  not 
evil  counsel  take  possession  of  thee,  17.  which  forsakes  the  teaching 
of  youth  and  forgets  the  divine  covejiant.  This  is  a  bit  of  rabbin- 
ical or  Alexandrian  allegorizing,  while  in  7^  the  Heb.  is  literally 
translated.  — 17.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  strange  woman's 
social  and  religious  infidelity.  The  reference  is  to  a  married 
woman,  and  the  fiend  of  her  youth  is  not  God  (to  which  sense 
the  parallelism  is  supposed  by  some  to  point),  but  her  husband. 
For  the  use  of  the  term  friend  (^I'^i?)  see  16'^  17^  Mic.  7^  Jer.  3'* 
1^2^13(14).  ^Y\Q  sense  guide,  instructor,  is  not  found  in  OT.  The 
expression  of  our  verse  is  perhaps  taken  from  Jer.  3^"^,  where  the 
adulterous  spouse  Israel,  charged  with  her  infidelities  by  Yahweh, 
is  exhorted  to  cry  to  him  :  7ny  father,  thou  art  the  friend  of  my 
youth,  that  is,  "the  husband  of  my  youth  (cf.  Hos.  2''-^^'^  ^'^  Ez. 
1 6'*^)  whom  I  have  forsaken  for  others"  ;    but  while  the  infidelity 

*  Cf.  Buxtorf,  Lex.,  s.  v.  >nTN,  for  the  use  of  Aratnaean  woman  as  =  foreign 
woman  and  harlot.  On  the  OT.  sense  of  strange  woma?i  see  Kuenen,  Einl.,  iii. 
f  97;  Wildeboer,  Litt.  des  AT.,  J  23,  Anm.  7;  Bertholet,  Die  Stellung  der  Isr,  und 
Jiiden  zit  den  Fremden,  p.  195.  — Cf.  the  Maxims  of  the  Egyptian  Any,  of  the  New 
Kingdom  (Eng.  transl.  in  art.  Egypt.  Literature  in  Library  of  the  World's  Best 
Literature) . 


II.  i6-i9  47 

in  Jer.  is  national  and  ritual,  in  Pr.  it  is  individual  and  physical. 
At  the  same  time,  the  marriage-obligation  is  here  regarded  as  a 
divine  law  (Ex.  20"),  and  so  as  an  agreement  with  God  to  obey 
him  and  thus  obtain  his  blessing.  The  Heb.  has  of  her  God ;  the 
more  general  form  of  God  (as,  apparently,  in  the  Grk.)  is  better. 
—  The  conception  of  the  marriage-relation  involved  in  the  verse 
(and  throughout  the  Book)  is  a  high  one.  The  old  polygamy  or 
bigamy  (the  rule  up  to  the  exile)  is  ignored ;  monogamy  is 
assumed  as  the  established  custom.  The  husband  is  the  trusted 
friend  ;  the  marriage-tie  has  a  divine  sanction  (cf.  Mai.  2") .  The 
expression  covenant  of  God  may  refer  simply  to  the  general  idea 
of  sacredness  involved,  or  it  may  possibly  allude  to  a  religious 
marriage-ceremony.  Of  the  Israelitish  marriage-ceremonies  of 
the  pre-Christian  time  we  know  little.  The  old  custom  was  that 
the  woman  was  brought  into  the  man's  dwelhng,  by  that  act  be- 
coming his  wife  (Gen.  24"'  2<f'  i  Sam.  25'*"  Dt.  21'-),  purchase- 
money  {mohar)  being  paid  the  father  (Gen.  34^-  i  Sam.  18-^); 
sometimes  the  man,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  affirmed  his  pur- 
pose to  take  the  woman  as  wife  (Ru.  4^*^'^)  ;  a  feast  was  some- 
times held  (Ju.  14^"  Tob.  8^®),  and  the  bride  was  led  to  the  hus- 
band's home  in  procession  (i//  45"- i^ds.  10  ^^  y^^  25"^^*  a  trace 
of  a  religious  ceremony  appears  in  Tob.  7^^-  ^^*"-  ^',  where  Raguel 
takes  his  daughter  by  the  hand  and  gives  her  to  Tobias  as  wife, 
saying  :  according  to  the  law  of  Moses  take  her  to  thy  father  (there 
was  also  a  written  contract,  Tob.  7"*^^')  ;  it  is  not  improbable  that 
in  this  later  time  it  was  customary  for  the  father  or  guardian  of 
the  bride  to  address  a  word  of  pious  counsel  to  the  newly  married 
couple.  No  part  in  the  ceremony  appears  to  have  been  taken  by 
priest  or  other  official  person.  The  modern  Jewish  marriage, 
though  it  differs  considerably  from  the  customs  of  Bible  and  Tal- 
mud, is  still  essentially  a  family-ceremony. t  — 18,  19.    Synony- 

*  On  the  view  that  Canticles  is  a  wedding-poem,  consisting  of  the  songs  sung 
by  bride,  bridegroom,  and  companions  in  the  marriage-festival,  see  Wetzstein, 
in  De.'s  Comm'y  on  Canticles;  K.  Budde,  in  the  New  World,  March,  1894,  and  in 
his  Comm'y  on  Cant.,  in  Marti's  Hand-Commentar ;  C.  Siegfried,  Hoheslied,  in 
Nowack's  Handkommentar. 

t  See  the  Talm.  treatises,  Ketub.  and  Kiddush.,  J.  F.  Schroder,  Satziingeri  u. 
Gebrdtiche  d.  talm.-rab.  Judenthuins,  and  I.  Abrahams,  Jewish  Life  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  1896. 


48  PROVERBS 

mous,  ternary.  The  fate  of  those  who  yield  to  the  seductions  of 
the  adulteress  :  physical  death  is  their  portion.  The  meaning  is 
plain,  but  the  exact  rendering  of  v.'-''  is  doubtful.  The  Heb.,  as  it 
stands,  must  be  rendered  she  sinks  down  to  death,  her  house  ;  but 
death,  the  hotcse  appointed  for  all  living  (Job  30"''),  would  hardly 
be  called  the  house  of  one  person  ;  the  rendering  she  .  .  .  together 
with  her  house,  that  is,  with  her  visitors  (Bottch.  De.  Now.),  is  not 
permissible.  The  reading  of  the  Grk.  (whose  text  differed  from 
our  Heb.),  she  has  set  her  house  by  death  (adopted  by  Bickell), 
does  not  give  a  satisfactory  thought  —  her  house,  which  is  on  the 
earth,  is  not  naturally  represented  as  being  by  Death,  which  is 
here  the  underground-world  ;  and  the  Heb.  preposition,  =  unto, 
must  also  then  be  changed  to  one  meaning  near,  by.  The  paral- 
lelism suggests  that  house  is  the  subject,  and  a  change  of  the  Heb. 
accents  (not  the  consonants)  gives  the  possible  sense,  bo%vs  dotun, 
or  sinks  doivn,  —  leads  down,  for  the  verb.  The  picture  pre- 
sented is  of  a  path  which  leads  from  upper  earth  to  Sheol,  like 
those  by  which  Odysseus  and  Aeneas  descend  to  Hades  (less 
probably  of  a  pit  through  which  one  sinks  into  Sheol)  ;  on  this 
downward  path  she  and  her  guests  enter,  and  from  the  land  of 
the  dead  they  never  return.  A  slight  change  in  the  Heb.  gives  a 
verb  meaning  goes  down,  ^=  leads  down  (17"^,  used  in  Job  21^* 
of  descent  to  Sheol),  a  sense  which  is  perhaps  favored  by  the 
similar  expression  in  5'^.  —  House  (if  the  text  be  correct)  is  the 
abode,  the  place  from  which  goes  the  path  to  the  Underworld, 
with  connotation  of  "household,"  the  woman  and  those  who  go 
to  her  house.  Death  =  the  realm  of  death,  Sheol  (cf.  xj/  9'^*"'  Pr. 
5^  7^^).  It  is  not  a  place  of  punishment,  but  the  abode  of  all  the 
dead.  The  punishment  referred  to  in  the  verse  is  premature  and 
unhappy  death,  which  is  represented  everywhere  in  OT.  as  a  mis- 
fortune, a  visitation  of  God  as  retribution  for  wrongdoing  (29^ 
^gi7(i8)^  .  jQjjg  jjfg  jg  ^.j^g  reward  of  the  good  (3^*^),  but  the  days  of 
the  wicked  shall  be  cut  short  (10-'').  This  is  the  old- Hebrew  con- 
ception, which  limits  moral-spiritual  life  to  the  present  world. 
Here  God,  it  was  held,  dispenses  rewards  and  punishments  ;  when 
one  has  entered  Sheol,  God  no  longer  takes  account  of  him  (only 
in  Job  14^''  26^"  is  there  a  suggestion  that  the  power  of  the  God 
of  heaven  may  extend  to  the  Underworld).     Death  is  the  physical 


II.  1 8-1 9  49 

event  which  transfers  men  from  the  sphere  of  activity  to  that  of 
inactivity,  where  there  is  no  relation  between  man  and  God  (Isa. 
^gis.  19^  This  conception  seems  to  be  a  survival  of  the  early 
belief  which  assigned  the  Underworld  to  a  separate  deity  (so  in 
Babylonia),  independent  of  the  deity  who  ruled  the  world,  and 
supreme  in  his  own  domain ;  the  subterranean  deity  vanished 
from  the  Israelitish  system,  but  the  gap  between  Sheol  and  the 
God  of  Israel  remained.  Proverbs  retains  the  old  view ;  its  idea 
of  the  future  life  is  without  ethical  elements.  —  The  Shades  (Re- 
phaim)  are  the  dead,  the  inhabitants  of  Sheol*  Earthly  condi- 
tions, such  as  distinctions  of  rank,  are  represented  sometimes  as 
continuing  in  Sheol  (Ez.  32""^''  Isa.  14^),  sometimes  as  not  con- 
tinuing (Job  3'^^"^^  \\i  88"'*^').  The  rephaim  are  without  mundane 
power  or  significance  (Isa.  14'"),  and  the  pious  among  them 
cannot  praise  God  (Isa.  38^^  \\i  88^'""').  Yet  they  were  popularly 
thought  of  as  being  gods,  or  as  possessing  supernatural  powers 
(i  Sam.  28'^  Isa.  8^^,  a  survival  of  the  primitive  belief  on  this 
point).  In  Pr.  the  facts  emphasized  are  that  their  existence  is 
without  happiness,  and  that  they  never  return  to  live  the  life  of 
this  earth. t — The  paths  of  ///^  =  the  ordinary  earthly  life,  not 
moral-spiritual  life  or  salvation.  The  statement  that  for  the  vic- 
tims of  the  adulteress  there  is  no  return  to  this  hfe  is  not  meant 
to  indicate  that  for  others  (the  followers  of  Wisdom)  there  is 
return,  but  only  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  fate  of  adulterers 
(premature  death)  is  irreversible,  Pr.  has  nothing  elsewhere  on 
the  impossibility  of  return  from  Sheol,  but  it  may  be  assumed  that 
its  authors  shared  the  opinion  expressed  in  the  other  Wisdom 
Books  (Job  14"-  Eccl.  9^  Ben-Sira  17'"). 

9.  pj  am;'''p  (i^  3^"'-''?)  is  rendered  as  noun  (SST  in  stat.  conslr.  and  so 
Gr.)  by  all  Vrss.  except  perh.  (5,  whose  KaTopOwaeis  may  be  noun  =  'o  (so 
Lag.  Baumg.),  or  verb  =  t/tott  shalt  establish  ;  the  noun-form  occurs  elsewhere 
only  once,  \p  96^  (Heb.  97^),  and  then  sing.  =  jid":  ;  between  noun  and  verb 
it  is  hard  to  decide.     The  text  of  1|J  presents  a  serious  rhythmical  diiificulty 

*  Whether  the  term  has  any  etymological  connection  with  the  gentiHc  name 
Rephaim  (Dt.  2"  at.)  is  uncertain.     Cf.  Schwally,  in  Z.4T.,  1898,  i.  pp.  132  ff. 

t  In  the  obscure  passage  Isa.  2619  jt  js  doubtful  whether  the  reference  is  to  a 
national  resuscitation  (as  in  Ez.  37)  or  to  some  sort  of  appearance  of  the  rephaim 
on  the  earth. 
E 


50  PROVERBS 

(in  i'^'',  in  which  the  same  three  nouns  occur,  the  rhythm  is  good).  The  diffi- 
culty may  be  removed  by  writing  ^::ii'r,  from  which  ma'C  might  come  without 
difficulty,  especially  if  the  scribe  had  i^  in  mind.  Gr.  'U'^D  aoz'T:.  — 10.  3^  •'2; 
(5  eav  yap  =  DN  ■'D.  —  pj  -\2^;  (g^  ttjv  didvoiav,  (Q^  ^  (TrjV  SidvoLav.  — 1§  a]!r; 
@  Ka\r]  elvai  Sd^rj.  —  The  masc.  vb.  Dj?r  with  fem,  subj.  npi  is  poetic  license, 
as  in  81"  14^  29-^  (where  Bi.,  who  here  by  a  long  insertion  introduces  a  masc. 
subj.,  retains  the  masc.  verb);  't  is  construed  with  fem.  predicates  in  Isa.  47!*^ 
xp  139*'  Dan.  12*,  that  is,  in  OT.  three  times  with  masc.  and  three  times  with 
fem.  predicates.  In  the  former  case  it  appears  to  be  conceived  of  in  a  general 
way  as  a  thing  (perh.  as  the  act  of  knowing)  without  regard  to  gender;  see 
other  cases  of  such  freedom  in  Ew.,  §  174^.  — 11.  ^  noTC;  <3  (foil,  by  S) 
/SouXt/  Ka\r],  to  indicate  that  '□  is  here  used  in  good  sense.  Similarly  for 
1^  nijjp  (§  (and  so  &)  has  evvoia  baia.  —  On  the  suff.  in  nsisjn  see  Ew., 
§  250  a,  01s.,  §  97«;  the  nr_  is  for  n^j-,  in  which  n  is  vowel-letter,  and  j  the 
verb-ending  (survival  of  the  Energic  form).  — 12.  |^  i^''xn'^;  (g  'iva  pvcr-qrai 
ff€,  apparently  =  |^;  S"  Ni-s.-im,  ^  -p  ii,  IL  ui  eruaris,  perh.  Impf.  instead  of 
S  and  Inf.,  perh.  free  rendering  of  |§;  Bi.  writes  I'^^i^  on  the  ground  that  this 
paragraph  is  not  a  consequence  but  an  explanation ;  on  this  point  see  notes 
on  v.2.  jn  better  taken  as  subst.  definmg  ^n;  the  Vrss.  render  it  by  adj. 
Gr.  pc?  —  m^snri;  (gBNACaJ.  ^,^5^;,  Triarbv  (and  so  <S^  marg.) ;  H-P  23 
(=Cod.  Venet'.  San  Marco,  V)  diaaTpa/j./j.^va  (and  so  Si")  =  |§.  — 13.  (3 
begins  the  v.  with  w,  apparently  reading  vsn,  a  particle  which  does  not  occur 
elsewhere  in  Pr.,  and  would  not  be  appropriate  here.  On  the  vocalization  of 
the  art.  (n)  see  Miklol,  53/',  and  on  the  accentuation  see  Bar-Delitzsch,  note 
on  this  verse. —  In  2  cl.  instead  of  S  and  Inf.  ("'d'^'^)  SlIulL  have  1  and  vb.  or 
partcp.  and  walk,  free  rendering  which  gives  the  sense  of  |§  correctly,  substi- 
tution of  the  coordinate  for  the  subordinate  construction.  Bi.  here  retains  |^. 
— 14.  H-P  23,  68  al.  prefix  w.  —  |^  j,n  Pir;'^;  ®  eTrt  /ca/cots.  —  ||J  rjDHp, 
written  defect,  in  some  MSS.,  taken  as  sing,  in  (5SE  ^r.  —  The  second  j?-i, 
supported  by  all  Vrss.,  is  somewhat  hard.  Gr.  regards  it  as  dittogram,  but  the 
rhythm  calls  for  a  word  here;  Dys.  emends  to  1*7,  but  the  iniquities  of  another 
is  hardly  possible.  Failing  a  satisfactory  emendation,  |§  may  be  retained.  — 
15.  The  text  of  |^  may  be  rendered  who  aj-e  crooked  as  to  their  paths  and  per- 
verse in  their  ways,  or  a  3  may  be  prefixed  to  nninmN,  or  the  3  omitted  (so 
Oort)  before  dpSj^d;  but  the  order  aitr-py  'in  (or  'ind)  is  not  quite  satisfac- 
tory (cf.  10^  19I  286- 18) ;  Dys.  (followed  by  Kamp.)  writes  D^C'p^D  (as  in  lo^), 
a  phonetically  easy  emendation,  the  D  being  supposed  to  have  fallen  out 
through  preceding  □,  but  the  order  is  slightly  against  this  construction  also. 
The  simplest  reading  is  that  of  the  Vrss.  (except  A9),  which  apparently  did 
not  have  3  before  'jjd,  whose  paths  are  crooked  and  their  ways  iniquitous  ;  the 
order  in  that  case  hardly  makes  a  difficulty.  —  Field  suggests  that  IL  et  infames 
gressus  eorum  may  have  been  influenced  by  A  /cat  dpv\ov(jLv\  cf.  Job  17^ 
where  (5  dpvXyjfia  (or  6pv\\7]ij.a)  =  |^  "^Z'D  hy-word.  — 16.  (5  has  a  text  wholly 
different  from  that  of  pj :  rov  p.aKpdv  (re  iroiTjaai  dwb  bbov  evdeias  Kal  dWb- 
rpwv  TTJs  diKaias  ypdifXT]s  —  a  consequence  attached  to  v.^"  instead  of  a  new 


II.  9-19  51 

paragraph.  This  is  not  a  scribal  heterogram  of  the  particular  word's  of  ||J, 
but  an  independent  allegorizing  reading  of  the  schools.  The  next  section  also 
is  taken  as  a  description  of  moral  folly,  and  is  introduced  by  the  words  vi4  ix-f) 
ae  KuraXd^ig  kolki}  ^ovXrj  (cf.  BS  7I).  The  connection  favors  the  personal 
picture  of  pj;  the  reading  of  @  illustrates  the  manner  in  which  the  expounders 
and  scribes,  in  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria,  sometimes  dealt  with  such  ethical 
texts  as  this.  —  S  writes  Impf.  at  the  beginning  (and  so  Bi.),  inserts  NPD^n  as 
subj.,  omits  mr  (for  the  sake  of  brevity),  and  for  pj  n|iiSnn  has  SDflnr,  possi- 
bly =  nfli'rnn  (Baumg.),  though  this  is  generally  rendered  by  ^SnN  (Pink.). 
Bi.  omits  nncN  on  rhythmical  grounds,  but  this  seems  hardly  necessary.  — 
17.  ?^  ni'7f<;  (S  5i.5a.(TKa\Lav  ((@^  fidOricnv),  probably  in  accordance  with  its 
allegorical  conception  of  the  passage  (cf.  Aram.  Jd'^'In),  and  so  ^fBux.  2  ; 
&  NjOiD  rearer,  educator,  A  ■tjyeixoua,  G  ijyovfxei'ov,  3L  ducem.  Though  no 
Vrs.  renders  by  friend,  this  sense  is  assured  in  Heb.,  and  is  the  most  appro- 
priate here.  The  st.  =  come  or  bring  together,  whence  Semitic  thousand,  Heb. 
leader  (head  of  clan  or  tribe),  Heb.  Ar.  friend,  Arab,  compose  (a  book), 
Aram,  teach  ;  the  origin  of  the  senses  ox  (N.  Sem.)  and  ship  (Ass.,  Aram.)  is 
not  clear. — ||J  n\nSN  r^^i;  G  diadrjK-qv  OeLav  =  D-'n'-'H  ■::  (and  so  ®:  Bi),  a 
better  reading  than  that  of  |^.  — 18.  |l?  nnu-  (mil'el) ;  (g^i'-  eeeTo  =  nr^V; 
(5^^  (lipLjev,  Si  she  forgets  {P'ja  =  nn^i",  repeated  from  preceding  v.)  the 
thresholds  (=  ^jPiJD)  of  her  house  and  the  luay  (=  niN)  of  her  paths ;  VL, 
freely,  whose  house  is  in  the  depth  of  death  ;  IL  inclinata  est  .  .  .  domus  eius. 
1^  nnr,  fem.,  can  hardly  stand  with  masc.  ria  (if  'i  were  meant  as  collective, 
it  would  probably  have  a  plur.  verb);  rwcv  (st.  third  n),  though  it  occurs  in 
Qal  only  once,  and  then  not  certainly  (Isa.  51-'^),  may  be  taken  as  =  inclines, 
sinks  (Ibn  Janah),  or  we  may  write  nnts'  (cf.  ^  loy'^^) ;  perh.,  however,  we 
should  read  rnj. — |^  2\X3i  Sn;  (5  ti-f-ra.  rOsv  yriyevdv  (H-P  103  yTjivwv^^ 
"\  PN;  yriy.  is  rendering  of  '1  in  g^^,  elsewhere  of  din  (Jer.  32-°)  or  ms  ij3 
('/'  492(>'))  ;  in  WS  7^  yqyevovs  wpuTOTrXdaTov  is  Adam.  Can  yqivuiv  earthy 
be  the  true  reading  here  and  9!^?  cf.  y-q'Cvo'i,  S  Job  4^^  =  13^2.  (!|  has  the 
doublet  Trapa  ry  ^Stj  =  Sixa*  Sn  (cf.  9^^).  The  meaning  of  the  stem  in  'i  is  not 
certain,  possibly  =  weak,  powerless  (cf.  Isa.  14^°) ;  but  this  can  hardly  be  the 
signification  of  the  gentilic  'n.  — 19.  On  the  ending  in  jma*^  see  critical  note  on 
1^8.  —  For  v.^^*  (§  has  two  readings:  one,  which  appears  to  be  the  earlier  (so 
Lag.)  takes  MZ'^  as  pass.,  KaraXa/jL^dvovrai,  and  for  Pims*  has  virb  eviavrQv 
=  Pur,  or  •'HT'  (cf.  I  K.  8^^  where  ev.  =  nr),  scribal  errors,  the  latter,  perh., 
from  32 ;  the  other  is  identical  with  ||J  except  that  for  a^n  it  puts  eiideias  ((@^ 
d7a^ds), which  maybe  a  moralizing  interpretation  after  the  manner  of  v.^^-  ^S  or 
perh.  (Lag.)  a  marginal  note,  or  (Baumg.)  a  familiar  term,  which  has  ejected 
the  original  word.  Neither  of  these  readings  offers  any  advantages  over  that  of 
1^.  —  For  1^  vn'^  S  has  jnsiPC,  r^wf/z/j^^r,  which  in  the  connection  yields 
no  sense,  and  is  emended  by  Lag.  to  poiia  attain.  ^  omits  suff.  in  n\s3, 
and,  by  way  of  interpretation,  adds  aVw'3  after  jiaii'\ 


52  PROVERBS 

21,  22.  Conclusion,  stating  the  consequences  of  good  and  bad 
doing. 

21.  For  the  upright  shall  dwell  in  the  land, 
And  the  perfect  shall  remain  therein; 

22.  But  the  wicked  shall  be  cut  off  froin  the  land, 
And  the  transgressors  shall  be  rooted  out  of  it. 

21.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  reward  of  the  good  stated  as 
motive  for  right  conduct.  On  upright  see  note  on  v.',  on  perfect, 
note  on  i^'.  The  reward  of  good  men  is  permanent  abode  in  the 
land ;  the  retnain  =  survive  (or  ^>e  /e/t),  imphes  that  certain  per- 
sons are  ejected  or  destroyed  from  the  land  (see  next  verse),  in 
which  in  all  catastrophes  the  righteous  are  maintained.  The 
expression  dwell  in  the  land  (not  earth)  refers  to  the  land  of 
Israel.  The  ancient  Israelitish  conception  (found  also  in  other 
peoples)  was  that  gods  and  men  were  attached  to  the  soil.  The 
god  protected  his  own  land  and  no  other,  and  the  citizen  as  such 
enjoyed  the  benefits  of  this  protection.  To  leave  the  land  was  to 
lose  one's  connection  with  its  deity  (i  S.  26^^  2  K.  5"')  and  to 
give  up  the  rewards  which  his  favor  promised.  Hence  in  part  the 
anxiety  of  the  Israelitish  law  to  secure  to  each  tribe  family  and 
individual  man  a  possession  in  the  land  (Ju.  2^  Ez.  47""^-  Nu.  36^ 
Ru.  4"  and  the  genealogies  in  Chron.  and  Neh.),  infringement  on 
which  was  regarded  as  a  great  crime  (Mic.  2-  Dt.  19"  27^^  Pr.  22^^ 
23^").  Israel,  and  not  any  other  nation,  was  Yahweh's  own  pos- 
session and  property  (Ex.  19^  Dt.  14'-^  26^^  \\i  135^  cf  Tit.  2^* 
I  Pet.  2^).  Thus  the  expression  dwell  in  the  land  (i/'37^"'^^  cf. 
Mt.  5^^)  came  to  be  equivalent  to  enjoy  the  divine  favor  atid  all  the 
blessings  of  life,  and  such  is  its  sense  here.  Though  in  later  times 
a  large  part  of  the  Jews  dwelt  out  of  Palestine,  the  old  expression 
held  its  own  as  the  symbol  of  happiness,  and  with  it  the  hope 
remained  of  living  and  dying  in  the  land  with  which  the  divine 
promises  were  believed  to  be  connected.*  —  22.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. The  contrasted  fate  of  evildoers.  Wicked  is  employed  in 
Pr.  as  a  general  term  (along  with  foolish)  for  those  who  discard 
and  disobey  the  divine  law  of  wisdom.     The  primitive  sense  is 

*  Much  of  this  feeling  still  remains  in  countries  in  which  the  Jews  are  excluded 
from  the  rights  of  citizenship;  it  has  almost  completely  disappeared  in  countries  in 
which  they  have  full  civil  recognition. 


II.    21-22  53 

doubtful,  but  in  OT.  it  commonly  means  morally  bad.  It  is  also 
a  forensic  term  (the  opposite  o{  just),  signifying  ^«^  whose  case 
in  law  is  bad,  rvrong,  or  adjudged  to  be  bad  (cf.  Ex.  2'^)  ;  the 
Causative  of  the  verb  =  adjudge  one  wrong  or  guilty  in  court  (17'^ 
Ex.  22^^^'  Isa.  50^  Job  15®).  In  the  prophetical  and  historical 
books  the  noun  generally  means  those  who  violate  the  moral  law ; 
in  the  Pss.  it  is  often  used,  by  a  natural  transition,  as  a  name  for 
the  persecutors  of  Israel  {xpif  58^''("'  75^*^'  119"^  al).  In  Pr. 
there  is  no  national  limitation  ;  the  wicked  are  they  of  all  nations 
who  disobey  the  law  of  right.  — The  term  tra?isg7-essors  ox  faithless 
is  here  employed  as  equivalent  to  wicked.  The  original  sense  of 
the  word  seems  to  involve  the  idea  of  underhand  dealing,  faith- 
lessness to  an  agreement,  treachery  (Ju.  cr'  Jer.  3"'"),  but  it  is 
extended  to  include  faithlessness  to  duty  and  right  in  general 
=  transgressors.  In  the  Pss.  it  sometimes  means  Jewish  apos- 
tates (i//  25^).  —  The  verbs  in  the  verse  express  violent  extirpation 
by  any  means,  by  the  hand  of  man  or  God.  The  first  (ma)  is 
the  term  used  in  the  legal  books  to  express  the  execution  of  intol- 
erable offenders  {that  person  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people. 
Lev.  7^"  al.)  ;  the  second  (nD3)  is  once  used  (Dt.  28^)  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  nation  from  its  land.  The  writer  of  the  verse 
probably  has  these  half-technical  uses  in  mind,  but  employs  the 
terms  in  the  broadest  sense  ;  unrighteous  persons,  he  says,  shall 
have  no  place  in  the  land  of  promise,  no  claim,  that  is,  to  happi- 
ness in  this  life.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  mode  of  execution  of 
the  punishment  is  not  stated,  but  the  divine  judgment  is  to  be 
understood  as  coming  in  the  way  of  natural  law  (courts  of  law, 
failure  of  plans,  sickness,  natural  death),  or  through  special  divine 
interposition  (violent  death). 

20.  1^  aoiQ  ^^^;  (@  rpL^ovs  dyaOds,  according  to  Lag.  false  reading  of 
the  abbrev.  '^a.  —  21.  The  Grk.  MSS.  exhibit  two  renderings,  with  a  number 
of  verbal  variations.  The  one  which  appears  to  be  nearer  to  |i^,  writing 
XP'riffTol  and  SiKaKoi,  is  found  (as  doublet)  in  Compl.  Aid.  and  (with  obel.) 
S",  in  (@A(gv*(gs  c.  a^  H-P  23,  103,  109,  147,  248,  252,  253,  254,  al.,  a  group 
which  suggests  a  combination  of  the  recension  of  Lucian  and  some  other 
recension;  the  other,  writing  evdeh  and  6cnoi,  is  the  text  of  (5^,  and  appears 
to  show  the  hand  of  an  Alexandrian  revisor  (see  note  on  v.^^).  —  22.  For  ^ 
a''>'cm  (5  has  65ol  dae^Civ  ((@'^  65ot  5^  ao-.),  as  in  1/'  i^*  (Jag-)>  f"^^^  "^"^  careless 
transcription  of  a  Grk.  scribe,  perh.  corruption  of  otl  (Heid.).  —  |^  inD%  Qal 


54  PROVERBS 

Impf.,  must  be  taken  as  indef.,  but  the  parallelism  suggests  a  Pass.,  as  all 
Vrss.  have  it  (though  this  may  be  free  rendering) ;  we  may  point  as  Hof.  (so 
Bi.),  a  form  which,  however,  is  not  found  elsewhere;  Gr.  in-i%  Hof.  of  mj; 
Oort,  Frank.,  Nif.  of  nDj.  —  Bi.  omits  T"ind  (as  perh.  gloss  to  njsa),  which  in 
fact  does  not  appear  in  the  similar  passages  ^p  oy9. 22. 28. 38.  ygj-  such  determi- 
nations of  niD  by  nouns  of  place  occur  elsewhere  (Jer.  35!^  Ez.  25"  Lev.  17^")) 
and  both  rhythm  and  syntax  appear  to  demand  a  word  here,  njDD  being 
otherwise  left  without  antecedent. 


This  chapter  states  the  economical  or  prudential  conception  of 
the  good  life  which  is  the  prevailing  view  of  the  book  of  Proverbs 
(see  note  on  i'*^)  ;  the  motive  urged  for  good  living  is  the  earthly 
well-being  which  attends  it.  This  sort  of  eudaemonism,  in  which 
the  individual  actor  alone  is  considered,  and  the  reward  of  virtue 
is  represented  not  as  inward  but  as  outward  (long  life,  peace, 
honor,  riches,  see  ch.  3),  may  seem  to  us  ethically  defective  in 
several  points.  It  does  not  present  the  good  as  an  independent 
ideal,  to  be  pursued  solely  for  its  own  sake  ;  it  does  not  hold  up 
the  highest  well-being  of  the  world  as  the  goal  and  standard  of 
moral  conduct ;  it  says  nothing  of  a  sympathetic  community  and 
cooperation  of  men  as  the  instrument  for  the  development  of  the 
moral  life  ;  it  makes  no  direct  mention  of  the  function  of  con- 
science as  moral  guide ;  and  it  makes  the  unmodified  declaration 
that  virtue  is  always  attended  by  outward  prosperity.  In  this  last 
point  Pr.  represents  the  old-Hebrew  view,  which  made  no  analysis 
of  the  inner  Hfe,  conceived  of  goodness  as  obedience  to  outward 
law,  held  that  the  deity  controlled  every  man's  life  by  occasional 
and  immediate  intervention,  and  so  necessarily  regarded  pros- 
perity as  the  accompaniment  of  obedience  to  divine  law.  This 
view  is  combated  in  the  book  of  Job ;  but  it  appears  that  Job's 
argument  made  little  impression  (perhaps  by  reason  of  the  absence 
of  an  ethical  conception  of  the  future  life),  and  that  many  or 
most  of  the  sages  saw  nothing  more  practically  helpful  than  the 
old  position.  As  soon  as  the  idea  of  future  compensation  was 
established  (WS.  3),  the  doctrine  of  present  reward  was  modified  ; 
in  Pr.  this  idea  is  not  accepted.  See  the  Introduction,  §  5,  A, 
and  §  6,  4.  —  The  defects  of  ethical  theory  mentioned  above  are 
in  part  explained  by  the  aim  of  the  book.  The  sages  no  doubt 
recognized  the  function  of  conscience,  and  believed  in  the  value 


III.  55 

of  right  in  itself.  But  they  probably  held  that  what  men  need  is 
not  ethical  theory,  but  practical  considerations  which  shall  help 
them  to  live  virtuously.  In  this  they  were  right  —  the  mass  of 
men  are  controlled  by  their  relations  to  one  another  in  society, 
and  by  the  hope  of  reward  and  the  fear  of  punishment.  It  is  true 
also  that  men's  experience  has  led  them  to  believe  that  goodness 
is  profitable  for  this  life  as  well  as  for  the  life  to  come.  Further, 
an  ideal  element  is  introduced  by  the  identification  of  wisdom 
with  the  will  of  God,  which  is  held  to  be  the  absolute  right,  and 
by  the  personification  of  wisdom  (ch.  8)  as  God's  first  creation 
and  intimate  friend.  The  sages,  it  may  be  inferred,  mean  to  say 
that  he  who  connects  his  ethical  law  with  God  is  provided  with  a 
restraining  influence  so  far  as  he  fears  God,  and  with  an  elevating 
influence  so  far  as  he  loves  him.  In  certain  passages  (as,  for 
example,  2"')  they  appear  to  reach  the  ultimate  moral  conception, 
namely,  the  ethical  union  of  man  with  God  conceived  of  as  the 
moral  ideal.  These  considerations  must  modify  our  judgment  of 
what  seems  to  be  a  baldly  prudential  scheme  of  ethical  life. 

III.  Three  independent  discourses  or  paragraphs,  introduced 
each  by  the  address  <my  son,'  all  more  or  less  fragmentary. 
The  first  (v.^-^")  consists  of  exhortations  to  follow  the  teacher's 
instruction  (v.^--)  and  observe  kindness  and  truth  (v."*),  to  trust 
in  Yahweh  and  fear  him  (v.^*^),  and  to  honor  him  with  one's 
wealth  (v.^  ^^).  The  second  (v.^'-™)  sets  forth  the  value  of  divine 
chastening  (v."-^-),  the  preciousness  of  Wisdom  (v.''^'-),  and  her 
function  in  creation  (v.^''  -").  The  third  (v.-^-^)  describes  the 
safety  which  comes  from  discretion  (v.-^ -^)  and  from  the  protec- 
tion of  Yahweh  (v.-^  -''),  enjoins  neighborly  kindness  (v.-'""'),  and 
sets  forth  the  retribution  of  the  upright  and  the  wicked  (v.'^-"^'). 
The  third  approaches,  in  parts  (v.-'"^),  the  form  of  discourse  of 
chs.  25-27.  The  poetical  structure  of  the  chapter  is  distichal,  with 
four-line  strophes,  though  in  some  places  the  form  is  obscure. 

First  Discourse.    V.  i-io. 

1.  My  son,  forget  not  my  instruction, 
But  keep  my  commandments  in  mind; 

2.  For  length  of  days  and  years  of  life 
And  peace  will  they  bestow  on  thee. 


56  PROVERBS 

3.  Let  not  kindness  and  faithfulness  leave  thee  — 
Bind  them  on  thy  neck  []  *  — 

4.  So  wilt  thou  find  favor  and  good  >  repute  » 
With  God  and  man. 

5.  Trust  to  Yahweh  with  all  thy  heart, 

And  lean  not  on  thine  own  understanding; 

6.  In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him, 
And  he  will  smooth  thy  paths. 

7.  Be  not  wise  in  thine  own  eyes  — 

Fear  Yahweh,  and  turn  away  from  sin  — 

8.  Then  will  there  be  health  to  thy  <  body  > 
And  refreshment  to  thy  bones. 

9.  Honor  Yahweh  with  thy  wealth, 
With  the  best  of  all  thy  revenue  — 

10.    Then  will  thy  barns  be  filled  with  <  corn  > 
And  thy  vats  will  overflow  with  must. 

The  teacher  exhorts  the  pupil  to  remember  his  instruction, 
urging  the  advantage  it  will  bring  him.  —  1.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Exhortation.  Lit.:  let  thy  heart  (=  mind)  keep  (=  guard,  pre- 
serve) my  commandments.  6'^/2  =  "  pupil,"  as  in  i^  The  con- 
tent of  the  instruction  (law,  tora)  is  to  be  inferred  from  the 
precepts  of  the  Book  of  Pr. ;  it  is  almost  exclusively  moral  and 
religious,  never  national,  but  always  individual,  very  rarely  cere- 
monial, never  dogmatic.  It  thus  stands  in  contrast  with  the  tora 
of  the  prophet,  which  is  national-religious  (sole  worship  of  Yahweh 
and  obedience  to  his  will),  and  with  that  of  the  priest  (Penta- 
teuch), which  is  ritual.  The  sage  presents  himself  as  authority 
and  source  of  moral  wisdom  ;  priest  and  prophet  speak  only  in 
the  name  of  Yahweh,  declaring  his  word.  The  prophet,  it  is  said, 
who  shall  speak  a  word  not  given  him  by  God  shall  die  (Dt.  i8^°), 
even  though  he  has  been  deceived  by  Yahweh  (Ez.  14^)  ;  the  sage 
finds  his  word  in  his  own  mind  —  in  the  prophet  this  is  a  crime 
(Ez.  13^' ^).  This  diversity  is  the  result  of  the  difference  of  the 
points  of  view  of  different  periods  of  Israelitish  history.  The 
sages  represent  a  period  of  reflection,  in  which  human  life  is 
studied   for  its  own  sake,  and   its  natural   laws   investigated. — 

*  The  Received  Text  adds :   Write  them  on  the  tablet  of  thy  mind  (lit.  heart). 


in.  1-3  S7 

2.  Single  sentence,  which  may  be  taken  as  binary,  or  as  quaternary- 
ternary.  The  reward.  Long  Ufe  is  considered  in  OT.  to  be  one 
of  the  chief  blessings  of  man's  lot  (Ex.  20'-),  including,  as  it  does, 
the  idea  of  happiness  (so  that  the  first  line  might  be  rendered  :  a 
long  and  happy  life).  Sheol  offered  nothing — the  longer  one 
lived  on  earth  the  greater  one's  opportunities  for  work  and  enjoy- 
ment (Isa.  38'''  65*).*  Peace  is  originally  wholeness,  completeness 
of  condition.  It  is  used  of  bodily  health  (Gen.  29^),  of  political 
concord  (Jud.  4'^),  of  friendly  relation  between  men  {\\i  41^*^"'), 
of  national  tranquilHty  and  safety  (Jer.  6'^  33"),  and,  as  here,  of  a 
general  condition  of  freedom  from  danger  and  disturbance.!  The 
reference  is  primarily  to  outward  quiet,  though  inward  serenity  is 
of  course  involved.  This  delightful  ideal,  a  long  and  peaceful  life, 
is  the  favorite  one  in  Proverbs.  It  is  represented  both  as  the  nat- 
ural product  of  devotion  to  wisdom  (intelligent  uprightness  of  life), 
and  as  the  gift  of  God  —  two  ideas  easily  harmonized  by  the  con- 
ception of  wisdom  as  having  its  root  in  reverence  for  God.  — 
Bestow  on  thee,  lit.  add  to  thee. 

3,  4.  An  injunction  parallel  to  that  of  v.^  -,  and  apparently 
intended  as  explanation  or  definition  of  it.  —  3.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary (or,  ternary-binary).  The  verse  is  perhaps  epexegetical  of 
v.\  a  description  of  the  law  of  wisdom  as  the  maintenance  of  kind- 
ness and  faithfulness.  This  combination  of  qualities  (or  its  equiv- 
alent) occurs  often  in  OT.  (Gen.  24^^  Ex.  34^  Dt.  7^  xp  25^"  Ss'"'"^ 
Pr.  14^^  1 6*'  20-**  al.)  as  the  expression  of  perfectly  good  relations 
between  man  and  man,  or  between  man  and  God.  Kindness 
is  friendly  good  feeling  and  the  conduct  appropriate  thereto  (see 
note  on  2**),  love  of  man  for  man  (Esth.  2^')  or  of  man  for  God 
(Hos.  6^).  It  is  not  properly  mercy,  compassion,  clemency,  for- 
giveness (for  which  ideas  Heb.  has  other  expressions,  Dt.  13^'*'**) 
Ex.  34^  Dan.  9^'*^').  Yahweh  is  good  and  kind  to  Israel  because 
he  loves  the  nation  —  that  is  the  normal  condition  of  things  ;  and 

*  Cf.  Cic.  De  Senectute. 

t  The  OT.  shclem  (RV.  peace-offering)  is  an  offering  which  completes  one's 
duty  to  God  or  makes  one  whole  with  him  by  the  fulfilment  of  a  vow  or  by  a  free 
gift  of  gratitude  for  favors  received.  Arabic  Islam  ("  submission,  resignation  ")  is 
the  putting  one's  self  in  a  position  of  soundness  with  God  by  faith,  obedience,  and 
submission. 


58  PROVERBS 

even  when  his  kindness  is  brought  into  connection  with  the  re- 
moval of  transgression,  as  in  i//  103,  it  still  remains  simple  kindness. 
— Faithfulness  {firmness')  is  steadfastness,  fidelity  to  one's  word 
and  to  the  obligations  which  spring  from  one's  relations  with 
men.  It  is  thus  sometimes  equivalent  to  truthfulness  (ijy  15^)  or 
to  truth  (i  K.  10''  Dt.  i3"*'^0j  ^^^  has  usually,  as  here,  a  wider 
signification.  —  The  two  qualities  together,  complementing  each 
other  (love  being  thus  saved  from  feebleness,  and  fidelity  from 
harshness),  may  be  said  to  form  a  perfect  moral  character.  They 
are  to  be  attached  to  the  neck  not  as  an  amulet  to  ward  off  evil 
(though  such  ornaments  may  originally  have  been  amulets),*  but, 
as  the  general  connection  indicates,  as  a  necklace  (i'')  or  a  seal- 
chain  (Gen.  38'^,  possibly  as  bearing  a  seal-ring),  that  one  may 
carry  them  with  him  always,  and  have  them  in  remembrance.  — 
The  Heb.  adds  the  parallel  line  :  write  them  on  the  tablet  of  thy 
fnind,  a  form  of  expression  which  occurs  only  here  and  in  7^  Jer. 
17^  but  the  same  idea  is  found  in  Dt.  30^^  Jer.  31^^  The  allusion 
is  to  the  tablets  of  the  decalogue,  and  to  the  command  (Dt.  6'*-'') 
to  write  the  divine  precepts  on  hands  and  forehead,  doorposts 
and  gates  (the  later  phylacteries,  etc.)t ;  cf  the  Arab,  expression 
to  write  a  thing  ivith  a  needle  on  the  inner  corner  of  the  eye.  The 
moral  law  is  not  only  to  be  accepted  as  an  external  code,  but  also 
to  be  received  into  the  mind  and  form  part  of  the  man's  nature 
(cf.  Jer.  31''^).  —  This  third  clause  is  lacking  in  some  Gk.  Mss., 
and  is  probably  not  original  —  the  verse  is  complete  without  it, 
and  it  mars  the  symmetrical  distichal  form  of  the  paragraph  ;  it 
may  have  been  inserted  by  a  Heb.  scribe  from  7',  where  it  is  in 
place.  —  The  general  idea  oi  kindness  tended  to  pass  into  that  of 
pity  for  the  poor  and  almsgiving ;  so  the  Lat.  Vulg.  here  has  mise- 
ricordia,  and  the  Grk.  a  word  (eAeij/xoo-wat)  which  was  later  em- 
ployed for  alms  (BS.  3"  Mt.  6^  Lu.  ii"*^  Diog.  Laert.  5,  17),  and 
has  given  us  our  word  eleemosynary,  though  here  it  seems  to  mean 
pity,   mercy.  — 4.    Single   sentence,   ternary.      The  recompense. 

*  The  preexilian  Israelites  wore  amulets  called  saharon  (Isa.  3I8,  cf.  Jud.  S^i-  2G) 
and  lahash  (Isa.  32")  ;  apparently  also  earrings  served  as  amulets  (Gen.  35'',  cf. 
Hos.  213(15)).  How  long  this  practice  continued  is  uncertain.  The  thufnmiin 
(tumtnim,  sometimes  improperly  identified  with  Arab,  tamima)  was  not  an  amulet. 

t  Such  legends  also  appear  to  have  been  originally  of  the  nature  of  amulets. 


I"-  3-5  59 

The  Heb.  reads:  And  thou  ivilt find  [lit.  and find~\  favor  and 
good  understanding  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  in  which  the 
term  understanding  is  unsatisfactory,  since  good  understatiding  (or, 
intelligejice)  is  not  of  the  nature  of  recompense,  parallel  to  favor, 
but  is  rather  the  cause  of  the  latter  (so  i'^^  good  understanding  gives 
favor) .  Most  of  the  Vrss.  have  found  difficulty  with  the  expres- 
sion. The  Grk.  attaches  the  first  part  (through  the  word  favor) 
to  v.^,  and  then  renders  :  and  devise  excellent  things  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  and  of  men  (so  quoted  freely  in  Rom.  12^''  2  Cor.  8-^)  ; 
but  this  does  not  agree  with  the  connection,  from  which  we  expect 
the  statement  of  the  result  of  acting  as  v.''  enjoins.  The  Peshitta 
Syriac  has  .  .  .  favor  and  good  and  understanding,  and  the  Tar- 
gum  .  .  .  favor  and  understanding  and  good.  A  slight  change  in 
the  Heb.  gives  name  instead  of  understanding ;  the  expression 
favor  and  good  name  (cf.  22^)  expresses  the  recompense  required 
by  the  connection.  —  On  favor  see  note  on  i^.  To  find  favor  \?, 
to  be  acceptable,  approved,  well  thought  of  (Gen.  6**  Ru.  2"^')  ;  a 
kind  and  faithful  character,  says  the  sage,  will  be  acceptable  both 
to  God  and  to  men  (so  Lu.  2'-)  ;  in  the  sight  of  =^  "on  the  part 
of,"  "  with  "  ;  the  same  isolation  of  moral  qualities  as  the  condi- 
tion of  the  divine  favor  is  found  in  Isa.  i^*-^^  66-  ip  24  al,  but  is 
more  complete  and  persistent  in  Pr.  than  in  any  other  Biblical 
book.  The  good  reward  of  right  doing  (if  we  accept  this  reading) 
is  this  favor  and  the  benefits  (friendship,  protection,  aid)  which 
naturally  flow  from  it. 

5-10.  The  blessing  attendant  on  trusting  and  honoring  God. 
Exhortation  to  trust  (v.'),  acknowledge  (v.''),  and  fear  him  (v.'), 
the  result  of  which  will  be  health  (v.**).  Exhortation  to  honor 
him  in  the  use  of  wealth  (v."),  the  result  of  which  will  be 
abundance  of  wealth  (v.'").  —  The  preceding  paragraph  (v.^"*) 
deals  with  the  ethical  side  of  life,  this  with  the  religious  side. 

5-8.  Benefit  of  dependence  on  God.  —  5.  Synonymous,  ternary, 
or  ternary-binary.  The  Grk.  has  God  instead  of  Yahiveh  ;  the  in- 
terchange of  divine  names  seems  not  to  be  significant  in  Proverbs, 
but  the  Grk.  preference  for  God  may  indicate  the  later  Jewish 
feeling.  To  trust  to  God  is,  from  the  connection,  to  regard  him 
as  the  source  of  wisdom  and  power,  the  guide  in  the  moral  life 


6o  PROVERBS 

and  in  all  other  things,  to  obey  his  law,  and  have  confidence  in 
him ;  see  note  on  i''.  We  may  render  trust  in,  understanding  this 
expression  in  the  sense  indicated.  With  all  the  heart  =  with  the 
whole  conviction  and  force  of  the  mind,  absolutely.  —  Opposed  to 
this  posture  of  mind  is  the  leaning  on  one's  own  understanding 
(insight,  wisdom)  as  on  a  prop  or  staff  (2  S.  i"  Mic.  3'^  Job  24-^). 
The  assumption  is  that  man's  intellect,  apart  from  God,  will  not 
guide  him  aright.  This  assumption  is  founded  not  on  any  theory 
of  man's  native  depravity  (such  a  theory  does  not  exist  in  OT.), 
but  on  observation  of  Hfe.  Man  is  often  blinded  by  passion  and 
at  the  mercy  of  temptation  (i^""'*),  but  he  may  avoid  sin  by  his 
own  will  (i'")  if  he  will  give  heed  to  God's  law,  which  is  a  fixed 
rule  of  conduct  unaffected  by  the  mutations  and  perversions  of 
human  passion.  Man,  further,  is  fallible,  and  does  not  always 
know  what  is  best  to  do  —  he  must  have  confidence  in  a  higher 
wisdom  if  he  wishes  to  feel  secure  and  be  free  from  anxiety.  This 
sense  of  security  and  peace  is  involved  in  the  term  trust  (cf. 
Ju.  8^^).  The  sage  probably  does  not  mean  to  exclude  human 
thought  and  effort.  In  times  of  great  national  distress  prophets 
and  psalmists  sometimes  represent  the  military  strength  of  nations 
as  nothing  when  compared  with  the  absolute  power  of  the  God  of 
Israel  (Hos.  i"  Isa.  2'"  10.  31  i//  20'''^'  iiS^")  ;  but  here,  as  gener- 
ally in  OT.,  the  idea  seems  to  be  that  human  wisdom  and  strength 
must  be  guided  and  sustained  by  God.  —  6.  Single  sentence,  ter- 
nary. Repetition  of  the  injunction,  with  statement  of  the  result 
of  obedience.  Acknowledge  —  know,  have  intimate  acquaintance 
with,  that  is,  know  and  obey  the  divine  law,  recognize  its  suprem- 
acy and  take  it  as  guide.  To  smooth  is  to  make  level ;  the  meta- 
phor is  derived  from  the  preparation  of  a  highway,  as  in  Isa.  40''. 
The  usual  way  of  human  life,  the  sage  intimates,  is  full  of  inequali- 
ties and  difficulties,  but  he  who  has  in  mind  the  law  of  God  will 
find  these  hindrances  removed  and  his  path  made  easy.  The 
reference  is  not  to  nice  moral  problems  which  shall  be  solved  by 
the  divine  law,  but,  as  the  context  indicates,  to  external  difficulties 
and  dangers,  such  as  poverty,  sickness,  enmities,  evil  allurements. 
The  paths  are  all  a  man's  ways,  social,  commercial,  political, 
religious ;  he  has  only  to  do  right  and  trust  in  God,  and  affairs 
will  be  made  easy  for  him  —  he  will  enjoy  prosperity  in  the  sense 


III.  5-8  6l 

Qf  ^.10. 16. 24. 25 .  j|.  jg  ^Yie  old  doctrine  of  the  prosperity  of  the  right- 
eous.—  At  the  end  of  the  verse  some  Grk.  MSS.  add  an^^  thy  foot 
shall  not  stumble,  a  scribal  insertion  from  v.-^.  —  7.  Synonymous, 
ternary,  or,  ternary-quaternary.  Repetition  of  the  warning  against 
self-confidence.  Progressive  parallelism.  The  holding  one's  self 
wise  is  represented  as  the  contrast  to  or  negation  of  fearing  God, 
an  antithesis  similar  to  that  of  v.^  —  it  is  assumed  that  to  trust  to 
one's  own  wisdom  is  to  follow  another  law  than  that  of  God, 
ordinary  human  standards  of  judgment  being  different  from  the 
divine  standard  ;  a  somewhat  different  view  of  conceit  of  wisdom 
is  given  in  Eccl.  7^".  The  fear  of  Yahweh,  which  is  assumed  to 
be  the  true  wisdom  (as  in  i'^),  is  defined  as  turning  away  from 
sin  (lit.  evil).  The  evil  in  this  case  cannot  =  ?nisforttme,  escape 
from  which  would  then  be  the  result  of  fearing  God  (as  in  v.^''), 
for  the  verb  means  a  voluntary  avoidance,  and  expresses  moral 
character  (as  in  Job  i^  Pr.  16").  The  fear  of  Yahweh,  it  is 
implied,  gives  the  proper  ethical  norm  of  life,  and  wisdom,  as 
generally  in  chs.  1-9,  is  understood  to  involve  a  religious  element. 
Clem,  of  Alex.  (Strom.,  155)  has  fear  God  who  alone  is  mighty,  a 
free  expansion,  perhaps  suggested  by  Mt.  10-*  (Lag.) .  —  8.  Synony- 
mous, ternary-binary.  The  reward.  The  first  line  may  be  read  : 
//  (the  fearing  Yahweh  and  departing  from  sin)  will  be,  etc.,  but  it 
is  better  to  take  health  as  subject  of  the  verb ;  and  then  may  be 
inserted  (after  the  Grk.)  as  giving  a  better  syntactical  connection 
with  the  preceding  verses.  Instead  of  body  the  Heb.  has  navel,  an 
improbable  reading,  since  elsewhere  (Ez.  i6^  and  a  similar  term 
Cant.  7^)  the  term  is  not  used  for  the  whole  body  and  being.  A 
slight  change  in  the  Heb.  gives  the  word  for  body  (so  the  Grk. 
reads)  or  the  word  iox  flesh.  The  latter  term  occurs  in  11^'  for 
the  whole  man;  the  combination  body  and  bone  i^^  flesh  and 
bone)  is  found,  in  this  sense,  in  Gen.  29^*  2  Sam.  5^  Job  2^  (and  cf. 
Job  21^'*  30™).  Each  of  these  terms  is  used  as  =  self  (designation 
of  the  spiritual  from  the  physical),  as  in  Neh.  9^^  \^  16^  35^"  d-^^-^, 
and  we  may  here  render  :  thou  wilt  have  health  and  refreshment. 
Of  these  two  words  the  first  is  properly  an  abstract  noun  of  action, 
healing  (deliverance  from  disease),  and  the  second,  refreshment,  is 
that  which  refreshes  (lit.  drink,  as  in  Hos.  2"  \\i  102'").  The  sense 
of  the  verse  is  that  obedience  to  the  law  of  God  secures  for  a  man 


62  PROVERBS 

a  thoroughly  healthy  and  happy  condition  of  being.  The  happi- 
ness is  primarily  freedom  from  bodily  and  other  outward  ills,  but 
necessarily  involves  inward  peace. 

9,  10.  Religious  use  of  wealth.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ternary- 
binary  (or,  ternary).  The  word  here  rendered  revenue  (RV. 
increase)  commonly  refers  to  agricultural  produce,  and  this  sense 
is  indicated  by  v.^";  elsewhere  in  Pr.  (as,  for  example,  in  i6*)  the 
word  appears  to  have  a  wider  meaning.  The  reference  in  the 
injunction  seems  to  be  rather  to  a  general  righteous  employment 
of  riches  than  to  the  payment  of  the  legal  tithes.  There  is  else- 
where in  this  part  of  the  book  (chs.  1-9)  no  reference  to  the 
ceremonial  law  as  obligatory  (in  7"  sacrifice  is  mentioned  as  a 
popular  observance),  and  the  immediate  context  favors  the  more 
general  interpretation.  The  term  here  rendered  the  best  (n'li'Ki) 
is  so  used  in  Am.  6^  \p  yS'^^  105'*  (of  persons)  i  Sam.  2-^  Am.  6"  (of 
things).  See  the  injunction  to  give  freely  in  v."'',  and  compare  the 
similar  injunction  in  Ben-Sira  29^  '\  God  would  thus  be  honored 
by  obedience  to  the  commands  respecting  the  care  of  the  poor 
and  other  general  moral  precepts,  r—  The  sense  will,  however,  be 
substantially  the  same  if  we  translate  7vith  (or,  out  of)  the  first- 
fruits  of  all  thy  revenue,  the  reference  then  being  to  the  triennial 
tithe  for  the  poor  (Dt.  14-^-")  and  the  annual  tithe  for  the  temple- 
ministers  (Dt.  i8^--^^Nu.  18^"'^).  These  were  doubtless  regarded 
as  obligatory  by  all  pious  Israehtes,  though  in  Prov.  they  are  else- 
where silently  passed  over  as  part  of  the  acknowledged  routine  of 
religious  life,  observance  of  which  did  not  necessarily  argue  a  gen- 
uine spirit  of  obedience  to  the  moral  law.  —  With  is  ht.  out  of,  a 
form  of  expression  which  is  meant  to  indicate  that  it  is  a  portion  of 
one's  wealth  that  is  to  be  thus  used.  The  verse  reads  in  the  Grk. : 
Honor  the  Lord  out  of  thy  righteous  labors,  and  give  him  the  first 
of  thy  fruits  of  7'ighteousness,  which  appears  to  be  a  scholastic  para- 
phrase or  interpretation  of  the  Hebrew.  — 10.  Synonymous-ter- 
nary. Statement  of  the  reward  of  such  use  of  wealth.  Our  Heb. 
text  reads  :  thy  barns  will  be  filled  ivith  plenty  ;  but  this  last  term 
is  elsewhere  always  adverbial  (Gen.  41-"  Eccl.  5^^'"'),  and  never  a 
thing  with  which  something  may  be  filled  ;  an  easy  emendation 
(suggested  by  the  Grk.)  gives  corn,  parallel  to  must.      Corn  is 


III.  8-IO  63 

a  general  term  for  cereals.  Must  (ni'n,  which  the  Vrss.  here  all 
render  by  itnne)  is  the  wine-crop,  the  grape-juice  expressed  and 
gathered  into  vats ;  it  is  frequently  mentioned,  along  with  corn 
and  oil,  as  one  of  the  main  crops  of  the  land  of  Canaan  (Dt.  7^^ 
Neh.  5^^).  Apparendy  it  was  not  commonly  drunk  till  it  was  fer- 
mented ;  it  is  spoken  of  as  exhilarating  (Ju.  9^-^)  and  intoxicat- 
ing (Hos.  4'^).  The  reward  of  honoring  Yahweh  is  here  physical, 
in  keeping  with  the  old-Hebrew  idea.  The  agricultural  life  con- 
templated suits  the  Palestinian  Jews  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
OT.  period ;  abundance  of  the  standard  crops,  corn  and  wine, 
was  a  synonym  of  prosperity  down  to  the  final  dispersion  of  the 
people  (a.c.  70).     So  wealth,  in  v.^,  —  "agricultural  revenue." 

III.  1.  (5  fo/ii/xwf  (H-P,  68  al.  v6fjLij}v^  takes  mm  as  plu.,  possibly  (Heid.) 
a  Pharisaic  reading  to  include  the  oral  tradition,  more  probably  induced  by 
the  plu.  in  '';  CI.  Alex.  Oefffiuiv,  perh.  from  memory  (so  the  Draconian  laws 
were  called).  —  <3  p-qixard  for  |^  nisa  is  rhetorical,  untechnical  rendering,  not 
reference  to  the  decalogue.  —  "isj  is  properly  preserve,  keep  safe  (and  so  sub- 
stantially =  remember^,  though  "  keeping  in  mind  "  may  be  practically  equiva- 
lent to  "observing,  obeying"  {\p  2510  78'').  —  3.  Jager  gets  rid  of  the  triplet 
form  by  attaching  "^  to  v.-  (changing  '^n  to  nS),  but  this  clause  belongs  by  its 
content  to  v.^.  It  is  better  to  omit  '^,  which  is  lacking  in  (5^  "'■  (found  in 
(@A  al.  02  Compl.,  Aid.,  CI.  Al.,  Proc,  Si^  sub  ast.  !L,S2r)  ;  see  note  on  f.  The 
different  positions  given  the  clause  in  Grk.  MSS.  suggest  that  it  is  a  gloss 
(Lag.).  —  (@  iXeyjiJLocrivai  (for  iDn)  here  =  kindness,  mercy,  as  in  Gen.  47^^, 
not  alms.  —  4.  For  |^  Impv.  sxa  Bi.  writes  nsdp,  which,  however,  is  unneces- 
sary, the  Impv.  being  not  uncommon  in  prot.  and  apod,  of  a  conditional 
sentence  (6''  8^^  9^  al.').  —  |^  Sot:'  is  taken  by  (§  as  Impv.,  irpovov,  against  the 
connection;  IL  (lisciplinam,  a  meaning  which  the  word  will  hardly  bear;  as 
hyy  (perhaps  occasioned  by  13^^  \f/  iii^")  here  affords  no  satisfactory  sense, 
we  may  emend  to  DU',  which  suits  the  connection,  though  it  is  without  support 
from  MSS.  or  Vrss.  —  S3C  take  3it3  as  subst.,  inserting  1  before  it,  1!L  following 
the  order  of  |^,  &  transposing  'r  and  'a.  This  latter  fact  may  seem  (Baumg.) 
to  indicate  that  B  here  follows  W,  only  introducing  an  error;  but  elsewhere  ST 
seems  to  be  dependent  on  &,  though  it  sometimes  shows  a  correction  after  |^. 
—  5.  |§  ^s  (twice);  read  h-;  (so  (§  in  second  occurrence);  throughout  OT. 
we  should  probably  emend  Sn  after  nD3  to  '^y.  — 1§  nirr';  (g  de^.  —  6.  |^  '^^'p; 
(S  aCiTT^v,  scil.  (Tocpiav,  against  the  connection;  (§  takes  ''  as  telle.  — 7.  f^  ■"'i'^^ 
@  rbv  debv.  —  8.  In  \nn  niNsn  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  subject  of  >nn  is  'i  or 
the  statement  in  v.^*";  in  the  latter  case  we  should  expect  nvt  after  'i,  in  the 
former  case  a  connecting  particle,  as  in  fact  (5  introduces  the  verse  with  rdre, 
and  S  with  telic  -i;  a  connective  seems  preferable:  so  will  there  be  or  that 
there  may  be.     mxon  is  an  Aramaic  form.  —  ^  nc'  navel ;   (5  a-wixarl,  and  so 


64  PROVERBS 

5i";  S  1D3;  3L  =  |t;  ®;  ii^^JO  (Lag.)  or  tj-jid  (Buxt.)  =  |§  (the  word,  in 
Syr.  n'.rnji3  or  irjir,  seems  to  be  a  compd.  of  i"',  but  the  force  of  the  first 
element  is  doubtful).  Read  irj,  with  (5,  Cler.,  Bi. ;  or,  with  Vog.,  Schl.,  Ew., 
Hi.,  Oort,  Kamp.,  "^Nti*.  —  On  (5  iirifi^XeLa  as  rendering  of  ^^p•i'  see  Schleusner's 
note;  Procop.  eTrifxevaa  stability ;  'A  ■KOTLfffibs,  of  which  Deissmann  {^Bibel- 
studien,  p.  152)  finds  an  example  as  early  as  B.C.  240.  —  9.  (§  renders  I'm  by 
diKaioiiv  w6vu)v,  a  homiletical  expression  intended  to  warn  against  the  unjust 
acquisition  of  wealth;  for  a  similar  use  of  tt.  see  BS.  14^^  28^^,  and  for  the 
idea  Pr.  10^'';  labor  =  wea/t/i  Eccl.  2^^  <?/.  (3  similarly  defines  riNian  by 
diKaio<riL'i'T]s,  and  further  omits  h?,  which  term,  here  unnecessary  though  not 
out  of  place,  may  have  been  lacking  in  the  Heb.  MS.  of  O. -r-lO.  |§  J?3i:"; 
(§  Tr\r]cr ixovrjs  crlrov  (so  rightly  Procop.;  the  text  has  (rlTip  by  scribal  error,  or, 
if  ttX.  did  not  originally  stand  in  the  Grk.  the  Dat.  ffiTif  might  have  been  used 
after  the  vb.  irt'/UTrXr/rat) ;  but  a  marg.  note  in  ^^  (which  =  |t^)  states  that 
the  (7.  is  found  neither  in  the  Heb.  nor  in  the  Grk.,  from  which  it  may  be 
inferred  that  the  Grk.  MSS.  here  varied.  The  text  of  (S  presents  a  conflation 
of  two  readings,  ttX.  =  yai;'  and  o".  =  i3U',  of  which  the  latter  is  more  likely  to 
be  original,  and  the  former  a  correction  after  Heb.  The  reading  lar  suits 
the  context  and  is  adopted  by  Oort,  and  regarded  as  original  by  Frankenberg; 
it  is  perh.  against  it  that  in  the  combination  corn  and  wine  in  OT.  it  is  always 
pi  and  never  I3i'  that  is  used,  though  this  is  not  decisive,  and  i3r  seems  to 
be  required  by  the  parallelism;   for  its  use  see  Gen.  42^'^'"  Am.  8^  Neh.  lo^^^ 

11,  12.  A  separate  paragraph  (a  quatrain)  on  the  benefit  of 
divine  chastening,  possibly  here  placed  as  a  modification  of  the 
preceding  paragraph,  to  explain  cases  in  which  worldly  prosperity 
does  not  follow  rectitude.  It  would  then  be  of  the  nature  of  an 
editorial  insertion. 

11.  Reject  not,  my  son,  the  instruction  of  Yahweh, 
And  spurn  not  his  reproof, 

12.  For  whom  <  he  >  loves  he  reproves. 

And  he  afflicts  <  him  >  in  whom  he  delights. 

11.  Synonymous,  ternary-  (or,  quaternary-)  binary.  Instead  of 
refect  we  may  render  despise  (the  general  sense  is  the  same  in  the 
two  renderings),  and  instead  of  spu7-n  (lit.  loathe^  the  nearly 
equivalent  be  wearied  out  with,  weary  of  (so  RV.),  as  in  Gen.  i'f' ; 
The  Grk.  \vds  faint  not  (so  quoted  in  Heb.  12^),  =  "  give  not  up  thy 
self-command  and  endurance,"  which  may  be  an  interpretation  of 
our  text,  or  may  represent  another  Heb.  term.  — 12.  Synonymous, 
ternary  (in  the  emended  text).  In  the  first  Hne  the  Heb.  has 
Yahweh   ^Yahweh  loves  instead  of  he  loves),  which  is  a  scribal 


III.    II-I2  65 

insertion  (explicitiim)  for  clearness.  —  The  second  line  reads, 
according  to  the  Masoretic  pointing,  and  \_=  yea,  reproves  /u'm] 
as  a  father  \_reproves'\  the  son  in  whom  he  delights,  or  delights  in 
him  as  a  father  in  his  son.  These  renderings,  though  possible, 
are  hard,  and  the  suggested  representation  of  God  as  father  would 
perhaps  make  a  difficulty,  since  it  would  be  unique*  in  Proverbs. 
The  translation  afflicts  given  above  (which  the  Heb.  consonants 
permit)  is  supported  by  the  parallelism,  by  the  Grk.,  and  by 
Job  5''\  The  parallelism  naturally  suggests  (though  it  does  not 
absolutely  require)  an  explicit  reference  to  disciplinary  suffering. 
The  Grk.  has  for  whotn  the  Lord  loves  he  repiwes,  and  scourges 
every  soti  whom  he  receives  (so  quoted  in  Heb.  iz*^),  in  which 
scourges  =  afflicts.     Job  5^'''  '*  reads  : 

Happy  is  the  man  whom  God  reproves, 

Therefore  despise  [or,  reject]  not  the  instruction  of  Shaddai, 

For  he  wounds  and  binds  up, 

He  smites  and  his  hand  heals. 

The  similarity  between  the  passages  in  Job  and  Prov^  makes  it 
probable  that  one  is  an  imitation  of  the  other,  or  that  the  expres- 
sions used  were  current  in  the  schools.* — The  word  son  in  second 
line  should  be  changed  to  him,  so  as  to  secure  a  better  parallelism. 
—  Whichever  translation  be  adopted,  the  sense  is  the  same  :  the 
suffering  of  a  good  man  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  divine  chastening 
dictated  by  love.  The  thought  is  found  in  Job  4.  5  (Eliphaz)  and 
33  (Elihu),  but  only  here  in  Proverbs.  The  sages  of  Prov.  else- 
where adopt  the  old  view  (defended  by  the  three  friends  in  Job) 
that  suffering  is  always  the  punishment  of  sin  ;  the  author  of  our 
passage  (following  the  school  of  Eliphaz  and  Elihu)  considers  the 
exception  to  the  rule,  and  finds  the  explanation  of  the  suffering  of 
the  righteous  in  the  disciplinary  love  of  God,  which  is  also  the 
NT.  view  (it  is  suggested  in  OT.  in  such  passages  as  Am.  4^"). 
Though  hinted  by  the  earliest  of  the  Israelitish  ethical  writers 
(Amos),  it  appears  to  have  made  no  lasting  impression  till  after 

*  Recent  writers  are  divided  in  opinion  on  the  question  of  priority  between  Job  5 
and  Pr.  1-9.  As  Pr.  agrees,  in  the  point  of  view  under  discussion,  with  Ben-Sira,  it 
should  probably  be  regarded  as  the  later,  unless  fob  be  put  very  late  (in  the  second 
or  first  century  B.C.).  In  both  Pr.  and  Job  it  is  individual  rather  than  national 
suffering  that  is  contemplated. 

F  ' 


66  PROVERBS 

the  acceptance  (in  the  second  or  first  century  B.C.)  of  the  doctrine 
of  ethical  immortahty.* 

11.  For  various  unimportant  var.  lect.  of  (5  in  v."-  ^  see  H-P.  |^  in 
should  probably  be  omitted  as  (early)  scribal  insertion.  — 12.  pn  without 
Makkef,  as  in  yp  47^  60^,  probably  a  scribal  accident,  nini  in  v.i^  is  sus- 
tained by  all  Mss.  and  Vrss.,  but  may  be  omitted  (as  explicittini)  with  advan- 
tage to  the  rhythm.  For  pj  3ndi  read  Hif.  axD^,  after  (5  fiacrrL-yol,  and  as  in 
Job  5^^;  Pi.  3ND  (Dys.,  cf.  Cappell.)  is  possible,  but  does  not  occur  in  OT. — 
|§  p  nx;  (S  (exc.  H-P  106)  -wavra  vlbv,  adopted  by  Bi.;  the  tt.  is  natural, 
and  may  be  rhetorical  explanation;  the  universality  indicated  by  |§  in  ^  is 
involved  in  the  Heb.  of  •'.  The  p,  found  in  all  texts,  probably  suggested  the 
pointing  ax?,  and  must  be  early;  yet  it  is  not  appropriate  here  (it  probably 
has  no  connection  with  the  common  address  ij3  of  v.") ;  we  expect  irx  or 
t:'X  *?;,  and  this  reading  may  be  adopted  as  the  most  probable.  —  |^  nxi^ ; 
(5  vapadexeraL,  free  rendering  of  pj,  as  in  Mai.  I^^;  ^ij[,  m  seems  to  be  repe- 
tition from  preceding  cl.,  or,  instead  of  ni-c  they  perh.  read  ns-i^  or  n-n\ 

13-20.  Excellence  of  wisdom.  —  A  group  of  8  couplets,  v."  -" 
forming  a  separate  sub-paragraph. 

13.  Happy  the  man  who  finds  wisdom, 
And  the  man  who  gains  understanding; 

14.  For  the  profit  she  brings  is  better  than  []  silver,! 
And  the  revenue  she  bestows  than  gold. 

15.  She  is  more  precious  than  corals  — 

No  treasures  []  J  can  compare  with  her. 

16.  Long  life  is  in  her  right  hand, 

In  her  left  hand  riches  and  honor. 

17.  Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 
And  all  her  paths  are  peace; 

18.  She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  those  who  grasp  her  — 
Happy  are  they  who  hold  her  fast. 


19.  Yahweh  by  wisdom  founded  the  earth, 

By  understanding  established  the  heavens. 

20.  By  his  knowledge  the  waters  well  forth. 
And  the  clouds  drop  down  dew. 

13.    Synonymous,   ternary,  or,   quaternary-ternary.     The   Grk. 
and  Syr.  Vrss.  have  two  terms  for  mafi  {human  being  .  .  .  mortal), 

*  On  the  doctrine  of  the  Talmud,  see  Weber,  Theol.  \  69. 
+  Heb. :  better  than  the  profit  of  silver. 
J  Heb. :  no  treasures  of  thine. 


III.  12-14  6y 

and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  Heb.  originally  had  such  a  vari- 
ation, perhaps  =  homo  .  .  .  vir,  or  two  equivalent  words  =  homo. 
Whether  wisdom  is  acquired  by  one's  own  effort  or  received  as  a 
gift  from  God,  is  not  said  ;  the  two  points  of  view  were  probably 
not  distinguished  by  the  writer.  The  beatitudes  of  Prov.  all  (with 
the  exception  of  16^")  relate  to  the  individual  moral  life,  standing 
thus  in  contrast  with  those  of  the  legal  and  historical  books  (and 
\\i  32''  146^  Eccl.  10^')  which  refer  to  national  life,  and  to  those  of 
the  Psalter,  which,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  a  personal-religious 
tone.*  — 14.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary  (in  the  emended  text). 
Literally  :  fo7-  her  acquisition  is  better  than  the  acquisition  of  silver, 
and  her  revenue  than  gold.  The  expression  rendered  her  acquisi- 
tion may  mean  the  acquiritig  her,  or  tuhat  she  acquires  {her  gain, 
profit),  or  what  she  produces  {—  the  gain  that  one  gets  from 
her),  or  her  trade,  or  trading  in  her  (=  RV.  the  merchandise  of  it, 
the  word  merchandise  being  used  in  the  now  obsolete  sense  of 
commerce).  The  meaning  seems  to  be  fixed  by  the  second  clause, 
in  which  her  revenue  must  signify  either  7ahat  comes  to  her  ifier 
income),  or  tuhat  she  yields  to  her  possessor  {tJie  income  frotn 
her)  ;  the  second  of  these  senses  is  supported  by  the  connec- 
tion, in  which  the  topic  is  the  advantage  that  man  derives  from 
wisdom,  and  by  the  similar  passage  8^^  7ny  fruit  is  better  than 
gold  and  my  revenue  than  silver,  that  is,  as  v.^'  suggests,  what  she 
has  to  offer  to  her  followers.  From  the  parallelism  we  may  con- 
clude that  her  acquisition  or  gain  signifies  the  profit  she  brings. 
The  translation  for  to  acquire  her  is  better  than  to  acquire  silver 
and  to  gain  her  {is  better)  than  gold,  though  intelligible  and  not 
out  of  keeping  with  the  context,  is  hardly  allowed  by  the  Hebrew. 
Grk.  :  for  it  is  better  to  traffic  for  her  than  for  treasures  of  gold 
and  silver ;  cf.  Mt.  13'*^*'.  Latin  Vulgate  :  for  the  acquisition  of 
her  is  better  thati  traffic  in  silver  and  her  fruit  is  of  best  and 
purest  gold.  Peshitta  Syriac  and  Targum  :  for  traffic  in  her  is 
better  than  traffic  in  silver  and  her  fruit  than  pure  gold.  These 
various  translations  give  the  same  general  idea.  The  parallelism 
here  and  8^"  suggests  the  omission  of  the  stcond  profit  (or  acquisi- 


*  The  Psalmist,  however,  often  speaks  as  a  member  of  the  nation  ;   his  individual 
experience  is  the  common  one. 


68  PROVERBS 

tio7i)  in  first  line.  —  In  \\)  19^"'^^^  similar  praise  is  given  to  the 
Tora  ;  the  points  of  view  of  the  sage  and  the  psalmist  are  different. 
—  15.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  Heb.  has  all  thy  treasui-es  can- 
not (=  none  of  thy  treasures  can)  compare  with  her ;  the  Possess. 
Pron.,  which  is  inappropriate,  is  better  omitted  with  all  the  ancient 
Versions.  The  meaning  of  the  Heb.  noun  in  first  cl.  (D'ns)  is 
uncertain.  It  was  unknown  to  the  ancient  Vrss. :  Grk.,  Syr., 
Targ.,  here  have  precious  stones,  Lat.  Vulg.  has  all  wealth;  else- 
where Lat.  has  a  number  of  other  renderings  ;  in  Job  28^^  Targ. 
has  pearls.  The  rendering  corals  is  based  on  Lam.  ^' ,  where  the 
word  is  used  to  indicate  ruddiness  of  complexion.  There  and 
here  RV.  has  rubies  in  the  text,  and  corals  in  the  margin  (see 
Job  28^*)  ;  the  ruby  would  be  appropriate  in  Lam.  4''  by  its  color, 
but  the  word  here  employed  never  occurs  in  fists  of  gems  (such 
as  Ex.  28^'"^"  z^^'^^  Ez.  28'''),  but  only  in  poetical  books  (Lam., 
Job,  Prov.).  The  coral  was  highly  valued  by  the  ancients  (Plin., 
H.N.,  32,  11),  and,  as  it  was  found  on  the  coast  of  India  and  in 
the  Red  Sea,  might  well  have  been  known  to  the  Jews.  The  ren- 
dering pearls  (Bochart,  Ewald,  Reuss,  Noyes,  Strack,  a/.)  would 
suit  if  the  complexion  in  Lam.  \'  could  be  understood  as  pearly; 
corals  is  favored  by  Gesen.,  Fleischer,  De.,  Kamphausen,  and 
others.  Treasures  is  lit.  zvhat  is  desired,  desirable,  precious. 
Wisdom  is  a  source  of  gain  (v.")  and  is  thus  precious.  —  Between 
the  clauses  of  the  Heb.  text  the  Grk.  inserts  nothing  evil  shall 
resist  her,  she  is  well  known  to  (or  easily  recognizable  by)  all  who 
approach  her ;  the  first  of  these  added  clauses  may  be  a  corrupt 
form  of  the  Heb.  second  cl.  (perhaps  for  nothing  desirable  can  be 
set  over  against  her),  and  the  second  may  come  in  like  manner 
from  Heb.  first  clause.  The  addition  is  an  interruption  of  the 
connection,  and  its  meaning  is  obscure.  — 16.  Equivalent  clauses, 
ternary.  At  the  beginning  of  second  cl.  and  may  be  inserted,  with 
the  Grk.,  and  after  the  prevailing  norm  of  the  couplets.  The  pre- 
ceding description  of  the  excellence  of  wisdom  is  figurative  — 
nothing  is  said  of  the  precise  nature  of  the  benefits  she  confers. 
Here  we  have  an  explicit  statement  of  the  material  rewards  that 
attend  her ;  see  n.  on  v."  Long  life  is  lit.  length  of  days.  The 
riches  and  honor,  here  mentioned  in  addition  to  long  life,  are  to  be 
taken  literally.     The  sage's  point  of  view  seems  to  be  twofold, 


III.  14-18  69 

On  the  one  hand,  his  conception  of  wisdom  includes  prudence 
and  sagacity,  qualities  that  usually  secure  both  wealth  and  the 
esteem  of  men;  cf.  such  passages  as  10*  11'-''  12'^  14^^  19*^  21^^ 
22^  24''"*''  27-"  3ii"-3i  —  this  idea  runs  through  the  whole  book. 
These  qualities  do  not  exclude  the  higher  side  of  the  conception 
of  wisdom  which  appears  elsewhere  in  the  book.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  the  idea  that  God,  by  some  direct  intervention  or 
according  to  the  general  laws  of  his  government  of  the  world, 
bestows  prosperity  on  those  who  obey  the  precepts  of  wisdom.  — 
After  this  verse  the  Grk.  adds  :  out  of  her  mouth  proceeds  righteous- 
ness, and  law  and  mercy  she  bears  on  her  tongue  ;  cf.  Isa.  45"'^  out 
of  my  mouth  proceeds  righteousness  (Yahweh  is  the  speaker)  and 
Pr.  3 1"''  and  the  hiw  of  kindness  \_—  kindly  instruction']  is  on  her 
totigue  (said  of  the  good  housewife).  This  couplet,  which  is  not 
in  keeping  with  the  context,  is  the  addition  of  an  annotator  who 
felt  that  the  passage  should  contain  not  a  Pharisaic  glorification 
of  the  Tora  (Held.),  but  a  recognition  of  the  ethical  elements  of 
wisdom.  Our  present  Grk.  text  of  31"*^'^  (on  which  see  note)  is 
different  from  the  clause  here  cited,  and  the  latter  must  have  been 
translated  from  the  Heb.  or  from  a  Grk.  text  which  followed  the 
Hebrew ;  the  Grk.  should  probably  here  read  :  the  law  of  kind- 
ness, etc.  The  ethical  element  introduced  by  the  Grk.  lies  out- 
side the  idea  of  the  Heb.  sage,  whose  purpose  is  simply  to  describe 
wisdom  as  the  summum  bonum.  —  17.  Synonymous,  binary,  or 
ternary.  The  pleasantness  and  peace  are  to  be  interpreted  accord- 
ing to  v.^" :  a  life  controlled  by  intellectual  and  moral  wisdom  will 
be  free  from  disturbances  and  cares.  Cf.  Job  5"*  where  peace  is 
the  reward  of  the  man  whom  God  instructs.  It  is  outward  peace 
that  is  primarily  meant,  but  this  would  doubtless  be  accompanied, 
in  the  view  of  the  writer,  by  serenity  of  mind  ;  the  Heb.  con- 
ception of  life,  as  is  apparent  throughout  the  Book  of  Proverbs, 
was  distinctly  objective,  but  it  necessarily  included,  as  all  human 
thought  does,  the  posture  of  soul.  Peace/  is  the  common  saluta- 
tion among  men  in  OT.  (as  now  among  the  Arabs),  a  general 
expression,  covering  all  the  outward  conditions  of  life ;  the  dis- 
tinctively inward  application  of  the  term  does  not  appear  in  OT. 
Cf.  Jno.  14-"  16''''.  — 18.  Synonymous,  probably  ternary-binary. 
Tree  of  life  is  a  figurative  expression  (probably  a  commonplace  of 


70  PROVERBS 

IV 

the  poetical  vocabulary),  equivalent   (as  appears  from    ii^°   13* 

15'')  to  source  of  long  life  and  peace  ;  the  statement  of  this  verse 
is  thus  identical  in  meaning  with  that  of  v.^*^-  ^^  The  poetical 
image  of  lifegiving  fruit  (found  also  Ez.  47^^,  and  cf.  the  fountain 
of  life,  Pr.  10"  al.)  is  probably  connected  with  the  conception  of  a 
primitive  sacred  tree  of  life,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  allusion 
here  is  to  the  tree  of  Gen.  2.  3  ;  if  this  be  so,  it  is  the  only  such 
allusion,  besides  that  of  Ez.  47^^,  in  OT.  (the  description  of  the 
garden  of  God  in  Ez.  28  has  no  mention  of  this  particular  tree). 
In  Genesis  the  life  is  physical ;  the  man,  it  is  said,  would  have 
lived  forever  if  he  had  eaten  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  even  after  he 
had  violated  the  command  by  eating  of  the  other  tree  (Gen.  3^").* 
Here  also  the  life  is  physical,  as  appears  from  v.^*^ ;  there  is  no 
reference  or  allusion  to  existence  beyond  the  grave.  But  the  sage 
departs  from  the  account  in  Gen.  in  that  he  attributes  long  life  to 
a  quality  of  mind. 

19,  20.  A  separate  paragraph.  From  a  description  of  the 
blessings  which  wisdom  confers  on  man,  the  sage  goes  on  to 
exalt  it  as  a  guiding  principle  of  God  in  the  creation  and 
maintenance  of  the  physical  world;  the  same  conception  is 
found  in  S'^^i  (and  cf.  Job  2^-"^-^),  BS.  i-^  WSol.  7.  This  view  is 
characteristic  of  the  Wisdom  books,  while  in  the  Prophets  (Am.  4^^ 
5^  g*'  Isa.  40  —  there  are  no  such  references  in  preexilian  writings) 
and  the  Psalms  (89.  104.  139)  God's  works  are  cited  as  illustra- 
tions of  his  greatness  and  his  care  for  his  people.  The  cosmical 
conception,  which  dwells  on  the  order  of  the  world  for  its  own 
sake,  belongs  to  the  post-prophetic  period  and  indicates  an  influ- 
ence of  Greek  thought. t  This  paragraph  obviously  connects  itself 
with  the  preceding  and  not  with  the  following  (which  is  an  exhor- 
tation to  obey  the  laws  of  wisdom)  ;  whether  it  originally  formed 
part  of  a  larger  section  is  uncertain.  — 19.  Synonymous,  quater- 
nary-ternary.     Wisdom    as    primeval   attribute    of   the   Creator. 

*  On  the  tree  of  life  in  Gen.,  see  Dillmann,  Genesis ;  Budde,  Bibl.  Urgeschichtc  • 
Cheyne,  Job  and  So/.,  p.  123,  and  Bampton.  Lect.,  p.  441  f . ;  Schwally,  Leben  nach  d. 
Tode,  p.  118. 

t  There  is  perhaps  a  trace  of  Persian  thought  also ;  cf.  Cheyne,  feio.  Relig.  Life 
after  the  Exile,  pp.  151,  208.  Whether  the  sages  were  affected  by  Egyptian  cos- 
mogonic  ideas  is  uncertain. 


III.  18-20  71 

It  is  the  skill  shown  in  the   creation   that  is   had   in   mind  (as 
in  Job   28  Pr.  8)  ;    contrast  the  national  point  of  view  of  the 
prophets  and  the  psalmists,  the   social  interest  of  Gen.  2,  and 
the  statistical  form  of  Gen.  i.     Wisdom  here  seems  to  be  simply 
an  attribute,  with  no  approach  to  hypostatization.  —  The  expres- 
sions founded  and  established  belong  to  the  old-Hebrew  cosmo- 
gonical  ideas.      The   earth  was  conceived  of  as   a  plane   mass, 
resting  on  an  ocean  {^\,  24^  136"),  as  having  foundations  (Isa.  51" 
,//  104^  Pr.  8-»)  and  as  supported  by  pillars  (Job  g*'  ^  75^'");  Sheol 
was  apparently  supposed  to  he  beneath  the  subjacent  ocean  (cf. 
Am.  9-^).     Above  the  earth  the  heaven  or  sky  was  thought  of  as 
a  material  expanse  (Gen.  i"),  fixed  in  its  place  by  God  and  sup- 
ported by  pillars  (Job  26"  ^  i8"<«'),  by  which  we  are  probably  to 
understand  the  mountains.     The  plu.  heavens  represents  the  sky 
as  made  up  of  contiguous  parts  ;   the  expression  heavens  of  heav- 
ens, elsewhere  used  of  the  celestial  abode  of  the  deity  (Dt.  10" 
I  K.  8-^  ^\l  148*)  conceives  of  it  as  including  different  planes.    The 
three  divisions  of  the  world  are  given  in  Ex.  20* :    the  heaven 
above,  the   earth   beneath,   the  water  under  the    earth.*  — The 
monotheistic  view  of  creation  is  here  assumed  as  generally  held 
(while  Isa.  40  contains  a  polemic  against  polytheism).  — 20.  Par- 
allels, ternary.     Wisdom  in  the  divine  direction  of  the  material 
world.     The  verbs  are  better  taken  as  Present ;  v.^^  deals  with  the 
creation  of  the  world,  here  we  pass  to  its  present  guidance  ;  if  the 
verbs  be  rendered  as  Past,  the  reference  will  be  to  the  original 
arrangement.      Lit.  the  deefs  are  chft,  that  is,  the  subterranean 
structure  is  broken  up  so  that  the  water  may  flow.     The  waters 
include  all  bodies  of  water  that  issue  from  the  ground,  namely, 
springs  and  rivers,  and  also  the  sea ;    these  come  from  the  sub- 
terraneous ocean.     Along  with  them  is  mentioned  the  water  that 
is  held  to  come  from  the  other  great  aqueous  supply :    the  dew 
is  supposed  to   fall   from  the  clouds,  and  the  term  is  probably 
meant  to  hiclude  rain  (cf.  Job  282^-«  36"') ;   the  reference  is  to 
an  ocean  above  the  sky.     Cf.  (Gen.  7")  the  double  process  by 
which  the  flood  is  produced  :    the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 

*  For  later  Jewish  cosmogonic  ideas  see  Secrets  of  Enoch,  ed.  R.  H.  Charles; 
Weber,  Thccl.,  \  44.  On  Babylonian  ideas  cf.  Jastrow,  Relig.  of  Bab.  and  Assyria, 
pp.  442  f.,  489. 


72 


PROVERBS 


burst  forth  (that  is,  water  rises  from  the  subterranean  ocean),  and 
the  windows  of  heaven  are  opened  (tliat  is,  openings  are  made  in 
the  sky  through  which  the  water  of  the  celestial  ocean  may  fall). 
Apart  from  any  scientific  conception  of  method  the  verse  declares 
that  the  divine  wisdom  appears  in  the  distribution  of  water  in  the 
world.  It  is  possible  that  in  the  original  form  of  the  section  other 
illustrations  of  God's  wisdom  followed.     Cf.  8^^""^^ 

13.  1^  a^^■  .  .  .  din;  (3  (followed  by  <S)  dpOpuiTros  {a.v7)p)  .  .  .  6u7]Tbs; 
we  should  perh.  read  anjs  or  ti^x  (so  Kamp.)  instead  of  second  s;  3L  omits 
it. — ||J  P''S'';  <3  eldef,  CI.  Alex.  Migne  I.  357  evpe  (but  552  ol5e),  assimilation 
to  vb.  of '"■;  Saadia  piji.  — 14.  mno;  (5  avTr)v  i/xiropeveaOai  (^C\.  A\.  efi-rropev- 
drjvai,  Fed.  91);  (§''  V  XP^<^''°^  "■-  apyvpiov  drja-avpovs,  prob.  free  rendering  of 
1^,  cf.  31^^  where  'D  is  rendered  by  ipyd^eadai;  Si  follows  |^,  only  inserting 
pni?2  {—  a'o),  before  last  word.  — 15.  The  tone  in  mp-i  is  drawn  back  for  the 
sake  of  the  rhythm.  —  K  □"JD,  scribal  error  for  Q.  ut:o;  a  similar  error  in 
Lam.  4'  was  perh.  the  source  of  It  edore  antiquo.  —  For  ||J  T'San  read  with  all 
anc.  Vrss.  a^'ssn  (so  Oort,  Bi.),  the  restrictive  suff.  bemg  out  of  keeping  with 
the  context.  —  ||J  wz-^;  ©  ^i^ov,  and,  in  the  doublet,  avriTd^erai  («<=•»■  A  avn- 
Tda-a-eTai).  (5  doublet  irovrfpbv  (I'sn),  perh.  for  irodrirbv  (Jag.,  Grabe,  cited 
by  Schl.).  (5,  second  doub.  evyvwcxTb^  eaTiv  iracriu  tois  eyyi^ovaiv  avrrj 
(Proc.  by  scribal  error  opyi^ovaLV,  <S^  {(paTrrofxh'ois)  perh.  =  ['?3'?]  t^Ti  7\•;-^^: 
ni2np  or  nijtj'?  Ti'sS  n'j;  in  any  case  not  original.  —  For  |^  n2  Oort  would 
rather  read  nS;  the  Prep,  after  m;:'  {—Me,  equal)  is  "?  or  Sn  except  here 
and  811  Esth.  7*;  the  1  may  introduce  the  noun  of  estimation.  — 16.  After 
a^'D''  lis*  (5  adds  koX  ery)  ^urjs,  apparently  from  v.-;  the  addition  mars  the 
rhythm.  <B  also  introduces  the  v.  by  yap  (adopted  by  Bi.),  but  the  causal 
form  does  not  agree  with  the  context.  —  On  th^  couplet  inserted  by  (g  see 
what  is  said  above,  and  cf.  notes  of  Lag.  and  Held.  In  ^  we  should  perh. 
read  vopLov  5^  iX^ov.  —  lT.  f§  a^^' :  l^^"'-  i"  dp-qvri,  (gVaj.  ^^r'  eip.,  (&^  omits 
prep.;  pj  is  to  be  retained.  — 18.  In  \  as  often  elsewhere  (rhetorical  expan- 
sion), (5  prefixes  irddL  to  the  Part,  (a^i^rnc).  —  Instead  of  na  the  suff.  might 
be  attached  to  the  Partcp.  — In  ^  |^  has  sing.  pred.  itrsc  with  plu.  subj. 
n>3DP.  IL  (and  so  Bi.)  makes  subj.  sing.,  and  S®  pred.  plu.,  but  these  ren- 
derings do  not  necessarily  indicate  the  precise  form  of  the  Heb.  text  of  the 
Vrss.,  since  they  might  in  any  case  make  their  translations  conform  to  gram- 
matical rules;  in  the  construction  of  |^,  which  occurs  elsewhere  (Gen.  27^9 
Ex.  31I*  ai.,  see  Ew.  §  319 «),  the  sing.  pred.  is  distributive  or  individualiz- 
ing, or  it  is  a  simplified  (unitary)  form  similar  to  initial  sing.  vb.  followed  by 
plu.  subject.  The  vb.  Ti'X  =  make  or  call  happy  seems  to  be  Denom.  — 
Clause  ^  stands  in  (&i^  Kal  rots  iTrepeiSo/Jiivois  in'  avrrjv  ws  eiri  KJjpiov;  (gB  ab 
adds  d<T(t>aK'q  and  <g  <  f^a.  A  d(r0aX-^s,  and  so  S"  Proc.  Hil.;  ao-(/).  =  iir'ND 
(taken  as  Pi.  V&xt.  =  guide  or  as  Vw.  =  guided,  and  perh.  read  nia-Nc),  is 
understood  as  referring  to  wisdom;    cos  e.  k.  apparently  =  ni?,  repetition  out 


III.    20-21  73 

of  niDDP  (Lag.,  Oort).  The  Heb.  text  of  (g  =  pj,  only  with  Prep,  h  before 
'P.  — 19.  ^Ev  (=3)  is  prefixed  to  a-o4>ig.  by  several  Fathers,  and  to  <j>povr]<Tei 
by^sc.a. A  many  curss.  and  several  Fathers  (see  H-P),  probably  a  scribal 
variation.  ^'HL  attach  3  sing.  masc.  suff.  to  the  second  noun,  S  to  the  first 
also.  —  20.  Suff.  in  i.-i>n  omitted  by  (@ba^  inserted  by  (S  ''  "■'^  H-P  69  al.  Comp. 
Aid. — The  precise  sense  of  the  expression  v;p2:  nbiin  is  not  quite  clear;  we 
expect :  "  the  rock  (or,  the  earth)  was  cleft,  and  the  waters  issued,"  as  in  ^  yS^^. 
The  construction  in  Pr.  is  supported,  however,  by  Gen.  7^1  \p  74^^;  the  latter 
passage  can  hardly  be  rendered :  ^/lou  didst  cleave  a  way  for  fountain  and 
brook.  Apparently  the  subterranean  onn  is  regarded  as  a  mass,  lying  motion- 
less, and  requiring  to  be  cleft  in  order  that  its  waters  may  move.  Instead  of 
ifl;;-ii  4  MSS.  have  jdi;?''  with  same  meaning  (cf.  Dt.  32-),  perhaps  scribal 
error,  or  euphonic  variation;  on  transposition  of  radicals  in  stems  see  Bottch., 
Lehrb.,  I.  §  265-267. 

21-26.  A  separate  section  (parallel  to  but  distinct  from  the 
preceding),  exhorting  to  the  practice  of  Wisdom  on  the  ground 
that  it  will  give  security  to  life.  Hitzig's  reasons  for  regarding 
the  section  as  an  interpolation  (namely,  that  the  repetition  of  the 
promise  of  reward  is  unnecessary,  that  the  vocabulary  contains 
late  expressions,  and  that  the  omission  of  these  verses  secures  a 
division  of  the  chapter  into  paragraphs  of  ten  verses  each)  are 
now  generally  rejected.  The  whole  section,  chs.  1-9,  is  not  early, 
but  late ;  it  is  made  up  of  sub-sections,  in  which  there  is  neces- 
sarily repetition  ;  and  the  hypothesis  of  decimal  division  is  arbi- 
trary. 

21  b.  My  son,  keep  [with  thee]  wisdom  and  discretion, 

21  a.  Let  them  not  depart  from  thy  sight; 

22.  They  will  be  life  to  thy  being. 
Adornment  to  thy  neck. 

23.  Then  wilt  thou  go  thy  way  securely; 
Thy  foot  will  not  stumble; 

24.  When  thou  <  sittest  down  '  *  thou  wilt  not  be  afraid, 
Thou  wilt  lie  down,  and  thy  sleep  will  be  sweet. 

25.  Thou  wilt  not  fear  the  calamity  that  befalls  the  <  foolish,'  \ 
Nor  the  storm  that  strikes  the  wicked; 

26.  For  Yahweh  will  be  thy  protector. 
And  will  keep  thy  feet  from  snares. 

21.  Synonymous,  ternary,  or,  in  the  emended  text,  quaternary- 
binary.      The  present  Heb.  text  reads  :    my  son,  let  them  not 

*  Heb. :  liest  down.  f  Heb. :  Fear  not  sudden  calamity. 


74  PROVERBS 

depart  (or,  swerve)  from  thine  eyes,  keep  wisdom  (or,  sagacity) 
and  discretion.  But  the  subject  of  the  first  cl.  is  lacking.  The 
antecedent  of  tJiein  cannot  be  supplied  from  v.'''  -"  (where  wisdom, 
7inderstanding,  and  kiioiv/edge  are  attributes  of  God,  and  in  any 
case  such  reference  to  them  would  be  too  abrupt),  or  from  the 
second  cl.  (which  would  be  against  Heb.  usage).  A  similar  ob- 
jection applies  to  the  rendering  (obtained  by  a  slight  change  in 
the  Heb.)  let  it  [wisdom]  not  siverve :  the  reference  to  wisdom 
is  abrupt,  and  the  sing,  does  not  agree  with  v.".  The  Vrss.  are 
unsatisfactory.  Grk.  (the  text  of  which  may  be  corrupt)  :  my 
son,  do  710 1  escape  {Yxt.  flow  away)  ;  Lat.  :  let  not  these  plow  away 
from  thine  eyes  ;  Syr.  Targ.  :  let  it  not  be  despicable  in  thine  eyes. 
The  beginning  of  the  paragraph,  which  contained  the  antecedent 
of  them,  may  have  fallen  out ;  it  may  perhaps  be  supplied  from 
the  closely  parallel  passage  4-""--.  We  may  either  insert  a  verse 
similar  to  4^',  or  supply  a  single  word  and  read  let  not  my  words 
(or,  let  not  wisdom)  swerve,  etc.  The  term  swerve,  turn  aside, 
seems  strange  in  this  connection,  and  the  Vrss.  assumed  different 
stems.  We  expect  one  of  the  usual  words  for  depart,  as  in  2  7-^ 
or  17^^,  or  else,  with  inversion,  tiam  not  away  from  my  instruction. 
A  proper  form  may  be  got  by  transposing  the  clauses  :  tny  son, 
preserve  sagacity  and  discretion,  let  them  not  depart  from  thine 
eyes  (Umbreit),  which  is  without  Versional  support,  but  seems  to 
be  the  simplest  solution  of  the  difficulty  of  the  first  clause.  On 
the  terms  sagacity  (—  zvisdom)  and  discretion  see  notes  on  2'  and 
I*,  and  ow  keep  see  notes  on  2"°  3^  —  22.  Synonymous,  ternary- 
binary.  The  reward  (the  description  of  which  goes  through  v.-^). 
Instead  oiwill,  here  and  throughout  the  paragraph  (simple  state- 
ment of  result),  we  may  render  shall  (authoritative  statement) .  — 
Grk.  i7i  order  that,  but  the  verse  is  better  understood  as  express- 
ing result.  The  life  is  physical,  as  in  3--  ^'^.  Being  is  here  better 
than  soul  (as  rendering  of  t'BD),  since  the  latter  term  conveys  to 
us  a  spiritual  sense  not  contained  in  the  Hebrew ;  we  might  trans- 
late they  will  (or,  shall)  be  life  to  thee,  that  is,  they  will  (or,  shall) 
confer  on  thee  long  life,  a  supreme  blessing.  Adornment  is  lit. 
beauty,  grace  of  form  (see  note  on  i^),  and  so  an  ornament  as  a 
thing  of  beauty,  and  as  a  lasting  possession  ;  see  notes  on  i^  3^ 
True  sagacity,  it  is  declared,  will  bring  its  possessor  not  only  long 


III.  21-25  75 

life  but  also  loveliness  and  graciousness,  the  reference  being  to 
the  attractiveness  of  a  character  moulded  by  a  high,  Godfearing 
intelligence,  beautiful  in  itself  and  attractive  to  men.  —  The  Grk. 
here  inserts  v.^,  with  a  slight  variation  i^flesh  instead  of  body). — 
23.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Security  in  walk.  The  second  cl.  (which 
reads  lit.  and  shait  not  strike  thy  foot)  occurs  in  \\i  91^^  with  the 
addition  against  a  stone ;  there  the  guidance  is  referred  to  angels, 
here  to  wisdom  ;  the  whole  psalm  is  parallel  to  our  section,  and 
shows  the  difference  between  the  points  of  view  of  psalmist  and 
sage.  —  A  slight  change  in  the  Heb.  gives  the  reading  thy  foot 
unll  (or,  shall)  not  stumble  (so  Grk.  RV.)  ;  the  sense  is  the  same 
in  both  renderings.  The  expression  was  probably  a  common  one 
to  express  safety  ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  suppose  that  Pr.  took  it 
from  t//,  or  \\i  from  Pr.  —  24.  Parallels,  ternary.  Security  at  home. 
The  Heb.  text  reads  :  when  thou  liest  doivn  thou  wilt  (or,  shalt) 
not  be  afraid,  yea,  thou  wilt  (or,  shalt)  lie  down  and  thy  sleep 
will  (or,  shall)  be  siueet.  The  repetition  of  the  verb  is  somewhat 
strange,  though  it  is  defensible  on  rhetorical  grounds.  The  Heb. 
vb.  has  the  two  senses  lie  doivn  and  sleep,  and  Schultens  thinks 
that  the  first  of  these  is  to  be  understood  in  first  cl.,  and  the 
second  in  second  cl. ;  but  this  is  not  permissible.  Grk.,  in  first 
cl.  :  luhen  thou  sittest  down ;  Targ. :  when  thou  liest  down  and 
steepest;  Syr.:  and  thou  shalt  sleep  ;  Lat.  :  if  thou  sleep  thou  shalt 
not  be  afraid,  thou  shalt  rest,  etc.  In  \p  3^''''  4*'^'  the  expression  is 
lie  doivn  and  sleep ;  in  Dt.  6^  we  have  the  pairs  sit  down,  ivalk, 
and  lie  down,  rise.  We  might  retain  the  Heb.  text,  and  under- 
stand it  to  refer  to  sleep  undisturbed  by  attacks  of  robbers  and 
murderers ;  but  a  more  natural  form  is  obtained  by  changing  the 
first //<?  \.o  sit.  —  25.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Security  from  calam- 
ity. Lit.  terror  (or,  calamity)  of  the  foolish  and  storm  (or,  deso- 
lation) of  the  wicked.  The  Heb.,  instead  of  terror  of  the  foolish, 
has  sudden  terror,  which  gives  a  good  but  less  appropriate  sense  ; 
the  parallelism  favors  a  reference  to  a  class  of  persons,  and  this 
reading  is  supported  by  i-''-'.  The  translation  foolish  requires  no 
change  in  the  consonants  of  the  Hebrew.  At  the  end  of  second 
line  the  Heb.  has  when  it  comes,  an  addition  to  complete  the 
rhythm,  but  unnecessary  to  the  sense.  —  The  declarative  render- 
ing thou  wilt  (or,  shalt)  not  be  afraid  is  required  by  the  connec- 


^6  PROVERBS 

tion ;  the  imperative  be  not  afraid  is  here  out  of  place.  The 
wicked  will  be  visited  with  storms  of  calamity,  but  when  these 
come  the  man  who  is  guided  by  the  divine  wisdom  need  not  fear 
—  they  shall  not  reach  him.  Cf  the  similar  statements  in  Job  5^^ 
i/' 91^"**.  —  26.  Progressive,  ternary.  The  ground  of  hope.  Pro- 
tector is  lit.  confidence  =^  ground  of  confidence;  cf.  Job  8'*  31-^ 
The  specifically  religious  theistic  point  of  view  (as  in  Job  5^'"-® 
i/zgi)  is  here  introduced  —  wisdom  is  identified  with  trust  in  God, 
according  to  the  fundamental  principle  stated  in  i^ 

21.  If  1^  iiS^  be  referred  to  st.  tiS,  this  use  of  the  word  (=  depart)  must 
probably  be  regarded  as  peculiar  to  the  Hokma  diction.  (@  (jrapapvys  =  Vin) 
and  3L  (^efluant)  appear  to  have  taken  it  from  bM  Jloiv,  SSC  C^IJ,  foil,  by 
Prep.  3)  from  VSr  despicable.  In  4^1  (g  has  eKXiwwcrlv,  SST  pu  (from  S^f), 
IL  recedant  (from  nS  or  Stj).  Lag.  supposes  that  ivapappv^s  (as  he  writes  the 
word,  but  apparently  without  MS.  authority)  comes  from  preceding  ippvrja-av 
by  erroneous  repetition  of  ppvijs,  and  he  thinks  it  impossible  to  restore  the 
verb.  (3  (which  omits  ^  ITpn)  must  be  rendered  do  not  slip  aivay  (that  is, 
from  my  instruction,  or,  from  wisdoni),  a  strange  reading,  and  SSTIL  are 
equally  unsatisfactory.  There  seems  to  be  nothing  better  than  to  retain  |^; 
on  the  construction  of  the  verse  see  note  above.  Bi.  reads  i'?p,  3  sing,  fem., 
understanding  wisdom  as  subject;  Oort  ^^v  (cf.  the  stem  Vin).  The  reading 
of  S3r  is  found  in  Kenn.  95,  150,  and  is  adopted  by  Houb.,  and  the  form 
iriS>  (as  in  4"^^)  occurs  in  some  printed  edd.  (see  De'  Rossi).  —  In  ^  (5S  attach 
I  pers.  suff.  to  the  nouns,  and  ,S  treats  isj  as  Inf.  Heid.'s  remark  that  <S2S 
reverse  the  order  of  the  nouns  is  not  correct  (cf.  Pink.).  —  22.  (§  tva  ^  ,j 
V  ^vx'f)  (Tov  (or  <TT}  ^vxv  H-P  23,  252)  is  free  rendering  of  |§.  — 23.  (S  vzttol- 
diis  and  iv  eiprjurj,  doublet;  irdcras,  rhetorical  insertion.  —  ^  lU"';  the  Qal  is 
regularly  trans.,  and  is  so  rendered  ^  91^^  by  (@1L;  here  intrans.  by  (53L  and 
apparently  by  ^K;  Saadia  ^^'2  "i^ji  Disn  xSi,  in  which  the  verb  may  be  taken 
either  as  trans,  or  as  intrans.,  and  thy  foot  ivill  not  strike  (or,  thou  ivilt  not 
strike  thy  foot)  against  anything  (rendered  intrans.  by  Derenbourg  and  Lam- 
bert). There  is  no  reason  for  abandoning  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word. — 
24.  |§  has  lyi'  in  both  clauses,  Impf.  and  Perf.,  rhetorical  variation;  a  better 
reading  is  given  in  ^  by  (g  (foil,  by  S"),  Kcidrj  =  a'C'n  (referred  by  Ilitz.,  Held, 
to  influence  of  Dt.  6^),  adopted  by  Bi.  on  the  ground  that  |^  is  intolerably 
tautological.  The  Vrss.  all  vary  the  expressions:  (5  /cdSj?  and  /ca^ei/STjs; 
%  "imni  3DC'n  in  "  and  'vr\  in  •';  <S  'iri  in  ^,  'zt<  m.^\  IL  dormieris  and  qui- 
esces ;  and  so  Saad.  lie  doiun  and  sleep.  These  renderings  may  be  rhetorical 
variations  of  |^.  In  2C  the  x'm  is  explanatory  addition  to  'im  {^).  —  25.  p? 
Sn  may  be  changed  to  nS,  after  the  norm  of  v.^'*,  or  perhaps  may  be  taken 
as  declarative,  which  force  it  possibly  sometimes  has  in  poetry  (Job  32^^)  and 
elevated  prose  (Jer.  14^''),  though  in  these  passages  it  may  be  scribal  error. 


III.  25-27  'J'J 

• — For  nns  Gr.  proposes  ■T'D,  referring  to  iSfi.  27  where  (5  has  dXeOpoi  and 
Obpv^os;  yet  these  may  be  understood  as  free  translations  of  ino  taken 
as  =  cause  of  fear;  (§  here  has  Trrb-qaLv  etreKdovaav,  in  which  tt.  =•  nns,  and 
iir.  is  repetition  from  ''  or  represents  dnps  read  as  some  form  of  Ni3.  The 
terror  and  storm  of  |^  are  understood  by  <©,  against  the  connection  and 
against  the  suggestion  of  i^*^-  "^ ,  as  an  attack  made  on  the  righteous  by  the 
wicked.  —  |i?  asria;  point  DNna  (Oort). — |^  N2n  -lo;  cf.  N33  126.27, — 26.  On 
the  Beth  essentiae  in  iSd^^  (so  Ex.  18*  Isa.  40^"  V  146^)  see  Ges.-",  §  1 19  ?,  Ew., 
§  229/',  an  1  cf.  (IT  "(■'"D^;  on  the  simiLir  Ara!).  construction  see  Gasp.  ed. 
Wright,  II.  §  56  rt  and  Rem.  a,  ed.  Miiller,  §  423,  za;  IL  in  latere  tuo  and  S 
l^y  take  'd  as  =  lohi,  flank;  (5  kirl  iraffCHv  oddv  aov  =  ■in'?DD2. — |i]  ^p'?  air. 
\ey. ;  Oort  suggests  that  it  may  be  pointed  as  Qal  Inf.  or  written  Nif.  Inf. 
iD^^n;  @Ba;.  ffa\ev9yi  (=  am  or  ']ii?),  which  Semler  would  change  to  dypevdrjs 
(so  H-P  23,  252'"i''S-,  and  ^^  Tisnn),  and  Lag.  to  avW-r)(pd^s. 

27-30.  A  detached  group  of  sayings,  enjoining  kindness  to 
one's  fellowmen.  They  are  prosaic  in  style,  roughly  formed 
couplets,  with  scarcely  perceptible  rhythm.  In  their  homely  char- 
acter they  resemble  rather  some  of  the  aphorisms  of  chs.  10-29 
than  the  discourses  of  chs.  1-9,  and  seem  out  of  place  here. 
Their  presence  appears  to  indicate  that  these  two  divisions  of  the 
Book  were  finally  edited  about  the  same  time.  Cf.  6i-''- c-"- 1--^'-* 
9'-i2  Eccl.  7I-9. 

27.  Withhold  not  good  from  thy  <  neighbor ' 
When  it  is  in  thy  power  to  do  it; 

28.  Say  not  to  thy  neighbor :  "  Go  and  come  again. 

And  tomorrow  I  will  give,"  when  thou  hast  it  by  thee. 

29.  Devise  no  injury  to  thy  neighbor. 
Seeing  he  dwells  in  confidence  by  thee. 

30.  Strive  not  with  a  man  without  cause, 
If  he  have  done  thee  no  harm. 

27,  28.  Two  nearly  identical  exhortations  to  beneficence.  In 
V.""  the  Heb.  has  frojii  its  possessors,  which  cannot  mean  ft'om  the 
poor  (Grk.),  as  if  they  were  lawful  owners  of  alms,  or  fro7n  them 
to  whom  it  is  due  (RV.)  ;  nor  can  we  render,  with  Lat.  Vulg. : 
Restrain  not  him  who  can  fro?n  doing  good ;  if  thou  art  able,  thy- 
self do  good.  The  connection  (v.-*^-^)  suggests  some  such  word  as 
neighbor,  which  may  be  got  by  a  not  very  difficult  change  of  the 
Hebrew.  The  word  is  wanting  in  Peshitta  and  Targum,  which 
have  the  general  precept  refrain  not  from  doing  good,  but  the  con- 


yS  PROVERBS 

nection  favors  the  reference  to  the  "  neighbor."  The  term 
means  associate,  clansman,  neighbor,  friend,  but  seems  here  to 
be  employed  in  the  wider  sense  in  which  it  is  used  in  Dt.  15^ 
Lu.  lo-'-^-^''  (taken  from  the  Grk.  of  Lev.  19^*).  Similar  injunc- 
tions are  found  in  ii-^-^^  14-1- "i  lyi^  2i2«  27^"  BS.  291- 2- ^o.  in  all 
these  the  tone  is  one  of  broad  human  sympathy.  —  28  enjoins 
prompt  and  hearty  help,  as  in  our  proverb  :  "  who  gives  quickly 
gives  twice  "  ;  there  is  no  ground  for  restricting  the  injunction  to 
paying  a  hired  man  his  wages  (see  Rashi) .  The  first  cl.  may  be 
understood  as  quoting  two  equivalent  speeches  of  the  man  who 
puts  his  neighbor  off:  Go  and  come  again  and  Tomorrow  I  will 
give.  Grk.  omits  to  thy  neighbor,  perhaps  by  scribal  error ;  the 
expression  is  possibly  an  insertion  of  the  Heb.  scribe  for  the  sake 
of  clearness,  certainly  not  (as  Lag.  thinks)  to  restrict  an  injunc- 
tion which  was  thought  to  be  too  general.  Cf.  the  omission  of 
the  similar  expression  of  v."'  by  the  Aramaic  Vrss.,  which  likewise 
seems  to  be  scribal  abridgment  or  inadvertence.  At  the  end  of 
the  verse  Grk.  adds  for  thou  knoivest  not  what  the  next  day 
will  bring  forth,  a  not  very  appropriate  gloss,  taken  from  27^  — 
29.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Against  malicious  conduct.  Seeing 
he  dwells  in  confidence  by  thee,  that  is,  dwells  unsuspecting,  or,  as 
the  Grk.  has  it,  seeing  he  divells  by  thee  and  trusts  in  thee.  Trustful 
feehng,  here  stated  as  the  ground  of  obligation  of  kindness,  is  the 
basis  of  social  life  ;  to  a  generous  mind  the  plea  is  a  strong  one. 
—  30.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Against  groundless  quarrelling. 
The  verb  in  first  cl.  means  contend,  in  general,  and  in  this  sense  is 
found  in  proper  names,  as  Jerubbaal,  =  "  Baal  [that  is,  Yahweh] 
contends  [for  me]."  It  is  a  common  term  for  Htigation,  but  is 
here  used  for  any  (unfriendly)  disputation.  The  verse  is  tautolo- 
gous,  the  second  cl.  merely  repeating  the  without  cause  of  the 
first  clause.  One  or  the  other  of  these  might  be  omitted  without 
detriment,  and  in  fact  Syr.  omits  second  cl.,  probably  for  simpli- 
fication ;  but  the  repetition  may  be  retained  as  rhetorical  fulness. 
The  Grk.  has,  in  second  cl.,  lest  he  do  thee  harm,  a  suggestion  simi- 
lar to  that  of  6^'^  14^'  20''  22-^-%  but  here  not  in  keeping  with  the 
context,  which  contains  merely  injunctions  without  statement  of 
consequences.  The  meaning  of  the  verse  is  that  while  contention 
is  sometimes  right  and  necessary,  it  must  always  be  for  good  cause. 


III.  27-30  79 

27.  In  expressions  of  position  or  quality  '^>'3  always  signifies  one  who 
employs  or  controls  the  thing  in  question:  husband  ^^  owner  of  a  wife;  ally. 
Gen.  14^3  =  one  who  enters  into  and  employs  a  treaty;  dreaftier.  Gen.  37!"  = 
one  who  has  and  employs  dreams;  archer.  Gen.  49'-^  =  one  who  uses  arrows; 
a  man  of  affairs,  Ex.  24^*,  conducts  his  affairs;  creditor,  Dt.  15^  =  one  who 
makes  and  controls  a  loan;  the  hair  of  a  hairy  man,  2  K.  I*,  belongs  by 
nature  to  him;  a  legal  adversary,  Isa.  50^,  is  one  who  conducts  the  prosecu- 
tion; one  who  is  sworn,  Neh.  6^^,  makes  an  oath;  a  bird,  Pr.  I^^,  uses  its 
wings;  a  waster  effects  waste ;  an  angry  man,  22-*  29^2,  feels  and  shows  anger; 
z.  glutton,  23-,  has  appetite;  a  rogue,  24^,  makes  mischief;  a  babbler,  Eccl.  lo^^, 
uses  his  tongue.  There  is  thus  no  authority  in  Heb.  usage  for  the  statement 
(made  by  Schult.,  De.,  and  others)  that  3i3  Sy3  may  here  mean  not  him  who 
does  good  but  him  to  whom  good  is  done ;  and  further,  the  sense  actually 
given  by  them  is  something  still  different,  namely,  him  who  stands  in  need 
of  good  or  deserves  it.  Nor  does  Aram,  permit  such  a  rendering.  The  word 
must  be  either,  with  S2C,  omitted,  or  else  changed;  a  corruption  of  -y)-\  into 
v'^y3  offers  no  great  graphic  difficulty.  From  (@  kvber\  Gr.  suggests  r'?N::',  and 
Oort  sees  nothing  better  than  ir^x;  but  (§  is  probably  free  rendering  of  |^. 
— •  K  ■'11  is  possible,  but  marginal  reading  i^  is  the  common  form  and  is  found 
in  many  MSS.  of  Kenn.  and  De'R. ;  Rashi  gives  two  explanations,  one  =  3L, 
one  =  @.  —  28.  ?^  ••>'"»  is  sing.,  the  Yod  being  third  rad. ;  the  omission  of 
this  letter,  as  in  margin,  is  unnecessary,  though  it  is  omitted  in  many  Span. 
MSS.  As  the  next  word  is  ^'?,  the  omission  of  T'j;"!'?  in  ©  may  be  due  to 
homoeoteleuton,  or  possibly  to  homoeoarkton,  especially  if  it  were  written  in 
the  abridged  form 'i*^. — S.  probably  by  scribal  inadvertence,  transfers  "ins  ii'^i 
from  end  to  beginning  of  the  verse.  On  the  addition  in  (§  see  note  on  this 
verse  above.- — -29.  |^  U'-in-^;  ©  re/cTTycT?;  BS  712(13)  dporpia;  the  figurative 
sense  devise  comes  more  naturally  from  carve,  but  possibly  also  from  plough. 
—  30.  ^  vN*^  DN;  (§  /UTj,  perh.  taking  ^  as  =  jo,  or  perh.  reading  nS  ncx  or 
N*?  'vn.  —  It  was  hardly  on  moral  grounds  that  ^  was  omitted  in  S. 

31-35.  Comparison  between  the  fortunes  of  the  wicked  and 
the  righteous — a  separate  group  of  aphorisms,  similar  to  the 
reHgious  aphorisms  of  chs.  10-22,  having  a  general  connection 
with  the  preceding  paragraph.  It  is  a  warning  against  the  seduc- 
tion of  the  apparent  prosperity  of  wickedness. 

31.  Envy  not  the  man  of  violence. 
And  take  no  pleasure  in  his  ways; 

32.  For  a  bad  man  is  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 

But  between  him  and  the  upright  there  is  friendship. 

33.  The  curse  of  Yahweh  is  on  the  house  of  the  wicked, 
But  the  habitation  of  the  righteous  he  blesses. 


8o  PROVERBS 

34.  Scoffers  he  scoffs  at, 

But  to  the  pious  he  shows  favor. 

35.  Wise  men  obtain  honor, 

But  ignominy  is  the  <  portion  >  of  fools. 

31.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  warning.  The  second  Hne 
may  be  rendered  :  take  pleasure  in  none  of  his  ways  (Ut.  take  not 
pleasure  in  ail  his  ways).  The  paralleUsm  calls  for  take  pleasure 
(!-'•'  Gen.  6^)  rather  than  choose  (which,  however,  gives  a  good 
sense).  The  violence  is  highhanded,  unlawful  procedure  of  any 
sort ;  jnan  of  violence  =  wicked  man  ;  the  "  violence  "  was  gener- 
ally practised  for  purposes  of  pecuniary  or  political  gain;  cf.  10*' 
16^1  It  is  assumed  that  there  is  something  in  the  fortunes  of 
such  a  person  which  one  might  be  tempted  to  envy,  and  so  to  be 
pleased  with  (or,  choose)  ;  for  the  explanation  see  i/^  2>f^'-  I*  is 
the  problem  of  the  Book  of  Job,  which  is  here  solved  in  the  old 
way  ;  see  next  verse.  —  Grk.  reads  procure  not  the  reproaches  of 
bad  men,  and  covet  not  their  ways,  in  which  first  clause  comes 
from  scribal  error,  but  second  clause  is  favored  by  the  parallelism 
and  by  aV^  i//  37^  On  the  other  hand  our  text  is  supported  by 
24^  and  gives  a  good  sense.  Lat.  do  not  imitate  his  ways,  which 
represents  the  Hebrew.  —  32-34.  The  reason  for  the  warning  is 
here  found  in  the  way  in  which  God  deals  with  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked.  The  rewards  and  punishments  are  earthly  and  ex- 
ternal ;  there  is  no  recognition  of  ethical  immortality,  and  life  is 
regarded  on  the  side  of  its  outward  experiences.  —  32.  Anti- 
thetic, ternary-binary.  This  form  is  common  in  chs.  10-22,  but  not 
in  chs.  1-9.  The  term  abominatio7i  is  used  in  the  earlier  historical, 
the  prophetical,  and  the  legal  literature  of  what  is  contrary  to  a 
religious  cult  or  usage,  Israelitish  or  foreign,  as  in  Gen.  43^^, 
K.  1 4^'',  Dt.  14^^,  Ez.  5^,  etc. ;  in  later  books  it  is  extended  to 
include  moral  offences,  as  here ;  it  means  something  which  is 
incompatible  with  the  nature  of  Yahweh.  The  bad  (or  iniquitous) 
man  (for  the  term  see  note  on  2'^)  is  as  abhorrent  to  Yahweh  as 
an  idol  or  other  abomination,  but  with  the  7/pright  he  sits  as  with 
familiar  friends  (lit.  with  the  upright  is  his  friendship).  The  word 
rendered  friendship  means  private,  intimate  converse  and  friendly 
relation,  then  the  assembly  or  persons  who  thus  converse  together, 


in.  31-34  81 

and  finally  the  secret  counsel  they  take  and  the  design  or  plan 
they  form.  The  connection  must  decide  in  any  given  case  which 
of  these  significations  is  most  appropriate.  With  this  passage  cf. 
Job  29'*-^  i/'  25^*  (and  ip  55'^*'^0j  ^^  which  the  sense  is  clearly 
friendship.  The  ground  for  avoiding  the  ways  of  the  wicked 
(v.^')  is  that  Yahweh  is  hostile  to  him  and  friendly  to  the  right- 
eous ;  what  this  friendliness  secures  is  stated  in  the  next  verse.  — 
33.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary,  or  ternary  (as  in  chs.  10-22). 
We  may  render  on  the  house  or  in  the  house.  The  value  of  Yahweh's 
friendship  is  here  said  to  be  the  (external)  prosperity  it  brings  ;  no 
reference  is  made  to  the  moral  benefit  of  communion  of  soul  be- 
tween God  and  man  —  this  latter  is  rather  regarded  as  the  ground 
of  the  blessing.  A  curse  in  the  mouth  of  God  is  a  sentence  or  pro- 
nouncement of  evil ;  in  the  mouth  of  man  it  is  an  imprecation,  an 
invocation  of  divine  punishment.  Similarly  God  blesses  by  pro- 
nouncing good,  man  by  invoking  good  from  God.*  —  Lat.  poverty 
from  the  Lord  is  an  interpretation  of  curse  of  Yahweh  suggested 
by  second  clause.  —  34.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  ternary-binary). 
The  surely  of  RV.  is  incorrect ;  see  critical  note  below.  Nor  is 
the  hypothetical  rendering  satisfactory  :  if  (or,  thougli)  he  scorns, 
etc.,  yet  he  shotus,  etc.,  the  preceding  and  succeeding  verses  being 
declarative.  Still  less  can  v.''^  be  protasis  and  v.^  apodosis.  A 
variation  of  the  preceding  statement.  On  scoffers  see  note  on  i-^ 
For  the  conception  of  reciprocity  in  first  cl.  cf.  ip  i  g^^^^e).  26(27)  ^  |-|^g 
representation  of  God  as  acting  toward  men  as  they  act  toward 
him  rests  on  an  ancient  anthropomorphism,  which  in  Pr.  is  prob- 
ably purified  by  the  conviction  that  God,  as  just,  must  be  hostile  to 
evildoers  ;  but  the  thought  never  rises  to  the  point  of  conceiving 
of  him  as  merciful  to  fools  and  sinners.  —  The  word  here  trans- 
lated pious  (d"j1:')  is  that  which  is  variously  rendered  in  RV. 
by  poor,  afflicted,  huviblc,  lowly,  meek.  Its  primary  sense  seems 
to  be  one  who  is  bowed,  bent,  or  one  who  boivs  himself  (under  or 
before  a  hostile  force)  ;  it  thus  comes  to  signify  one  who  suffers 
from  financial  poverty  (Am.  8'*  al.'),  one  who  is  oppressed  by  the 
strong,  particularly  the  nation  Israel  in  the  time  of  national  afflic- 


*  The  Heb.  term  for  bless  never  means  curse,  blaspheme,  or  renounce ;  in  Job  i''-  H 
2^-  9  the  Heb.  word  is  to  be  changed  so  as  to  read  curse. 

G 


82  PROVERBS 

tion  (i/'  74^^  al.^,  or,  one  who  afflicts  himself  by  fosting  or  is 
humble  before  God,  and  so  in  general  the  Godfearing,  pious  (so 
used  of  Moses,  Nu.  12'^,  and  so  \\i  37",  quoted  in  Mt,  5^).  This 
last  is  the  sense  suggested  by  the  parallelism  here,  though  lowly, 
humble,  is  also  appropriate.  —  Grk.  :  tlte  Lord  resists  the  proud, 
but  shozus  favor  to  the  humble,  quoted,  with  slight  variations,  in 
Jas.  4",  I  Pet.  5^  —  Bickell  omits  the  verse  as  an  interpolation 
which  breaks  the  connection  between  v.'^'^  and  v.'^' ;  it  is,  however, 
closely  parallel  to  v.^,  and,  if  any  verse  is  to  be  omitted  as  irrele- 
vant, it  should  rather  be  v.'^^  (see  note  on  this  verse  below). — 
For  the  sentiment  cf.  i6'^  —  35.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  first 
cl.  =  honor  is  the  portion  of  wise  jnen.  The  thought  is  that  of  11^ 
12*  13''  14^'^  22-^  al.:  men  of  integrity  and  insight  will  receive 
recognition  at  the  hands  of  their  fellowmen  —  the  approbation 
of  society  is  presented  as  a  motive  for  rightdoing  —  a  powerful 
inducement.  The  term  wise  doubtless  includes  moral  and  re- 
ligious as  well  as  intellectual  elements,  and  so  fools  in  the  second 
clause.  The  verb  means  primarily  to  have  or  obtain  possession  (as 
in  Jos.  14'),  and  secondarily  to  inherit,  a  sense  which  is  here  not 
appropriate.  Honor  is  the  respect  or  high  recognition  accorded 
by  God  to  man,  or  by  man  to  God  or  man  (i  K.  3'''  Gen.  45^^ 
I  Sam.  6')  ;  opposed  to  it  is  the  shame  of  the  second  cl.,  slight 
estimation,  contempt.  —  The  translation  of  the  second  cl.  is  doubt- 
ful, one  word  being  apparently  corrupt.  This  word,  as  it  stands, 
may  mean  lift  up  (from  the  ground,  2  K.  2^^),  exalt  (\j/  89™),  take 
away,  remove  out  of  the  tvay  (Hos.  11''  Isa.  57'''),  offer  as  gift  or 
sacrifice  (that  is,  lift  up  before  the  deity,  Ex.  35'^  Lev.  4*).  None 
of  these  senses  are  here  suitable  :  fools  do  not  exalt  or  remove  or 
offer  ignominy,  nor  does  ignominy  do  these  things  to  fools.  No 
satisfactory  translation  of  the  clause  has  been  made.  Grk. :  the 
godless  exalt  dishonor ;  Lat.  (followed  by  RV.)  :  ignominy  is  the 
exaltation  {ox,  pro7notio)i)  of  fools  {\\\..  shatne  exalts  fools),  and 
so  Schult. :  the  brand  of  infamy  gives  notoriety  to  fools ;  Syr. 
Targ.  :  fools  suffer  (lit.  receive)  shame,  which  is  not  a  translation 
of  the  Heb.,  the  word  in  Heb.  meaning  not  "  to  take  away  for  one's 
own  benefit  or  use,"  but  "  to  take  out  of  the  way,  do  away  with," 
and,  in  the  ritual,  "  to  take  a  portion  not  for  one's  self  but  for 
God."     A  slight  change  of  text,  with  an  insertion,  gives  the  ren- 


III.  34-35  83 

dering  fools  change  Sjheir  glon^  into  shame  (cf.  Hos.  4^  Jer.  2" 
\\i  1 06-"),  but  the  insertion  is  improbable,  and  the  resulting  sense 
not  clear  or  appropriate.  Another  slight  change  gives  fools  in- 
crease shame  (cf.  Isa.  40-^  Eccl.  6"  10"),  a  good  and  natural 
sense  ;  and  a  similar  rendering  is  appropriate  in  14-".  But  an 
equally  easy  and  more  probable  emendation  gives  the  verb  possess, 
get  possession  of  {=  obtain).  In  any  case  the  meaning  of  the 
second  cl.  is  ignominy  is  the  portion  of  fools,  that  is,  of  those  who 
are  not  wise  enough  to  see  that  it  is  their  duty  as  well  as  their 
interest  to  obey  the  divine  law.  The  ignominy  and  the  honor,  it 
is  to  be  supposed,  are  assigned  by  God.  The  couplet  appears  not 
to  belong  with  the  preceding  quatrains,  from  which  it  differs  in 
tone  ;  it  is  probably  the  addition  of  an  editor. 

31.  (S  fiT}  KT-f)<xri  [njpn]  KaKUP  avSpdv  dveldr),  in  which  6v.  may  =  J^  Dsn 
(Baumg.)  as  in  26*'  Job  19',  k.  being  epexegetical;  Lag.  suggests  that  k.  a.  0. 
is  simply  poetical  expression  of  k.  a.,  like  /x^7a  adivos  'HeTtwyos  =  'Her/wv.  — 
^r]\d}(rris  may  =  |^  nnjn;  according  to  Oort,  it  =  innn,  which  seems  unneces- 
sary.*—  32.  d  seems  to  make  irapdvo/jLos  (nSj)  subj.  of  ^  iv  5^  diKalois  ov 
crvveBpid^et,  but  doubtless  oii  is  scribal  error,  repetition  of  following  av  (Lag.), 
and  Kvpios  is  subj.  —  Heid.,  noting  that  ©  has  Trap,  instead  of  (TKoXtdfwc  (14^) 
and  cLKadapTo^  instead  of  the  usual  ^d^Xvy/xa,  sees  in  this  v.  a  Pharisaic  attack 
on  the  Sadducees,  the  paranomists,  and  regards  avvedpcd^ei  as  an  allusion  to 
the  Sanhedrin.  This  is  possible,  but  not  necessary,  and  the  supposed  allusion 
in  ffvved.  vanishes  with  the  disappearance  of  ov.  —  33.  |^  7^}r\'';  (g  deov.  All 
following  nouns  are  plural  in  (§,  perh.  stylistic  variation  of  the  translator, 
perh.  representing  variations  from  our  Heb.  text;  so  S»9C  Saad.  have  plu.  in  *, 
%  in  b,  and  in  (53L  the  vb.  in  •*  is  Pass.  plu.  —  34.  W'Tihh  ON  cannot  here  mean 
7u/ien  he  deals  with  scorners  (Lag.,  De.,  Kamp.)  as  separate  protasis  (with 
t'^'>  Nin  as  apodosis),  nor  can  ON  =  surely  (RV.),  since,  in  asseverations,  this 
word  has  negative  force.  Gr.,  Oort,  change  avX  to  dihSn  (after  Jas.  4^  i  Pet.  5^), 
and  Oort  omits  pref.  '^;  but  mni  is  the  divine  name  used  above  in  the  para- 
graph, and  the  Nin  further  must  then  be  omitted.  Dys.'s  emendation  to  ay, 
with  omission  of  pref.  S  (which  may  easily  be  doublet)  is  simpler,  bringing 
the  sentence  into  the  norm  of  \p  18-''.  Or,  we  may,  with  ©  Kiipws  vireprjrpdvois 
avTiTda-aerai,  omit  ax  (so  .SSCIL),  though  this  is  graphically  not  so  easy. 
(3  Kijpios  may  represent  ni.T',  or  may  be  explicitum.  —  K.  D"JJ?;  Q  D''1JJ?,  for 
which  Si  has  XD^an.  For  V'''^^  SM^  have  r|inDj  casts  down,  free  rendering. — 
35.  |§  nnr;  (5  vxl/wa-av;  S3C  pSapj;  IL  stultoruni  exaltatio,  apparently  taking 
\h\^  as  subj.;  Dys.  emends  to  aniDD,  Gr.  better  to  duid,  but  we  should  proba- 
bly read  "f  nh  or  vy. 

*  Heid.,  by  oversight,  quotes  Procop.'s  comments  as  additions  to  the  Grk.  text 


84  PROVERBS 

rV.  Three  exhortations  (v.^-^,  v}'^'",  v.-"--'),  the  theme  of  all 
three  being  the  excellence  and  beneficent  power  of  wisdom. 

—  They  are  like  those  of  chs.  2.  3  in  that  the  advice  is  of  a  gen- 
eral nature,  while  in  chs.  5.6.  7  it  is  directed  against  a  particular 
sin. 

1-9.  The  sage  cites  the  instruction  given  him  by  his  father. 
The  text  is,  in  parts,  in  such  condition  that  we  cannot  be  sure  of 
the  exact  sense.  The  Vatican  Grk.  makes  the  teacher's  instruc- 
tion (and  not  wisdom)  the  subject  of  praise. 

1.  Hear,  O  children,  the  instruction  of  a  father  — 
Give  heed  that  ye  may  comprehend  wisdom. 

2.  For  good  counsel  I  give  you  — 
Forsake  ye  not  my  teaching. 

3.  When  I  was  of  tender  age,  [] 
Beloved  by  my  '  father,' 

4  a.  He  used  to  teach  me  and  say  to  me : 

4  i>.   "  Let  thy  mind  retain  my  words. 

4.C.   Keep  my  commandments  and  live; 

5  a.  Get  wisdom,  get  understanding. 

6.      Forsake  her  not,  and  she  will  preserve  thee, 
Love  her,  and  she  will  keep  thee.* 

8.  Prize  her,  and  she  wilt  exalt  thee. 

She  will  honor  thee  if  thou  embrace  her; 

9.  She  will  encircle  thy  head  with  a  chaplet  of  beauty, 
Bestow  on  thee  a  crown  of  glory." 

1.  Extensive  or  exegetical  (the  second  cl.  repeating  first  cl. 
and  giving  the  reason  for  it),  ternary.  Exhortation  to  hearken. 
The  sage  (by  the  plu.  cJiildrcn  or  sons)  addresses  himself  to  a 
circle  of  hearers,  a  school,  though  the  difference  of  number  is  not 
significant;  when  the  sing,  is  used,  the  address  is  to  a  class  of 
persons,  young  men  in  general.  Father  is  not  here  used  in  the 
stricter  (family)  sense  of  the  word,  but  with  the  wider  connota- 
tion oi  teacher ;  see  note  on  i**,  and  cf.  v.^  below.  On  instruction 
and  wisdom  (the  term  usually  rendered  understanding)  see  notes 
on  I".  The  word  rendered  give  heed,  =  hearken,  attend,  is  a  syn- 
onym of  hear  used  only  in  poetry  and  solemn  prose.     Compre- 

*  On  the  omission  of  v.'^b.  7^  see  note  on  these  verses  below. 


IV.  1-3  85 

hend  =  knoiv  (i-).  The  source  of  authority  of  the  teaching  is 
the  experience  of  the  teacher.  —  2.  Continued  thought,  ternary- 
(or,  quaternary-)  binary.  The  ground  of  the  sage's  claim  to  be 
heard.  The  sage  speaks  with  conviction  and  authority  ;  he  beheves 
that  his  teaching  is  sound  and  important,  and  the  teaching  or  law 
that  he  gives  is  his  own,  that  is,  is  grounded  in  his  own  soul, 
though  derived  from  divine  teaching  ;  the  prophet,  on  the  con- 
trary, never  speaks  in  his  own  name.  Counsel  or  instruction 
(RV.  doctrine^,  with  which  latv  is  synonymous,  is  here  given  to 
others ;  in  i^  (on  which  see  note)  it  is  received  from  others. 
Grk.  gift  =  something  received.  Lat.  /  give  you  a  good  gift 
(omitting  for,  which,  though  not  necessary,  is  appropriate,  nearly 
=  namely),  —  3.  The  sage  refers  to  his  own  childhood.  The 
Heb.  reads  :  For  I  was  a  son  to  my  father  [or,  my  father's  son^ 
tender  \_=^  of  tender  age,  wea/i]  and  an  only  child  in  the  presence  of 
[  =  tvith']  my  mother.  Grk. :  /  also  was  a  son,  obedient  to  a  father, 
and  beloved  in  the  presence  of  a  mother.  The  first  cl.  is  strange  — 
it  seems  unnecessary  and  unnatural  to  describe  a  boy  as  the  son 
of  his  father,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  any  writer  would  use  such 
an  expression ;  we  expect  a  word  descriptive  of  the  son's  rela- 
tions with  the  father  (as  the  relations  with  the  mother  are  de- 
scribed in  the  second  cl.).  The  obedient  of  the  Grk.  seems  to  be 
free  rendering  of  our  Heb.  (instead  oi  tender),  though  it  may  rep- 
resent a  different  Heb.  word  ;  something  like  this  would  be  pos- 
sible, but  is  not  particularly  appropriate ;  it  would  require  a 
change  in  the  order  of  the  words.  The  only  child  also  is  improb- 
able ;  an  adj.  like  the  beloved  of  the  Grk.  would  be  appropriate  ; 
but  this  sense  (RV.  only  beloved)  does  not  properly  belong  to  the 
Heb.  word  here  used  ;  the  expression  as  an  only  child  would  be 
in  place.  After  calling  on  his  pupils  to  give  heed  to  his  instruc- 
tion, the  writer  (in  order  to  give  the  weight  of  tradition  to  his 
words)  might  naturally  say  for  I  myself  ivas  a  son,  under  the 
authority  of  a  father,  and  beloved  by  a  mother.  But,  as  only  the 
father  is  referred  to  (in  the  Heb.  text)  in  the  following  couplet,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  mention  of  the  mother  here  does  not 
belong  to  the  original  form,  and  that  my  mother  took  the  place  of 
my  father  in  the  second  line  after  the  expression  to  my  father  had 
been  introduced,  by  scribal  error,  into  the  first  line.      If,  with  this 


86  PROVERBS 

correction,  we  substitute  beloved  for  only  so7i,  we  have  a  simple 
and  clear  sentence.  —  The  verse  suggests  an  interesting  picture  of 
the  family-training  of  the  time  (probably  the  third  century  B.C.). 
The  father  is  the  authoritative  guide  of  the  children.*  The  in- 
struction is  oral  —  there  is  no  reference  to  books ;  books  were 
rare,  and  were  probably  used  only  by  advanced  students,  though 
children  of  the  better  families  may  have  been  taught  to  read  at 
home.  There  is  no  sign  of  the  existence  of  children's  schools  at 
this  time.t  —  4-7.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  precise  con- 
nection of  thought  in  this  passage.  V.^"  "^  and  v.^  are  plain;  the 
difficulty  lies  in  v.*"-^'.  The  following  considerations  may  help  to 
fix  the  wording.  V.'',  since  it  interrupts  the  connection  between 
v.^  and  v.^,  is  syntactically  confused,  and  is  not  found  in  the  Grk., 
may  be  omitted  (see  note  on  this  verse  below).  V.^'' also  inter- 
rupts the  connection  between  v.^^  and  v.^  (this  last  verse  supposing 
a  preceding  reference  to  wisdom),  and  should  be  omitted.  We 
shall  thus  have  to  form  a  couplet  out  of  v.*''  and  v.'*''.  The  resultant 
paragraph  is  not  free  from  difficulties ;  but  it  follows  the  indica- 
tions of  the  Heb.  text,  and  affords  a  clear  sense.  —  4.  The  two 
first  clauses  make  a  couplet,  continuous,  ternary.  The  father's 
address,  beginning  with  the  second  clause,  appears  to  extend 
through  v.**.  The  father  alone  is  here  cited,  in  the  Heb.,  as 
teacher  (see  note  on  preceding  verse).  Grk.  (reversing  the  order 
of  the  verbs)  :  they  said  and  taught  me,  thus  including  the  mother  ; 
in  v.^,  however,  it  makes  the  father  alone  the  speaker,  and  so,  prob- 
ably, it  should  be  throughout,  in  accordance  with  the  manner  of 
the  rest  of  the  section,  chs.  1-9.  —  On  mind  (lit.  heart)  see  note 
on  2^.  Retain  =  grasp,  hold  firmly  in  hand,  hold  fast.  —  The 
third  line  of  the  verse  is  identical  with  the  first  line  of  7^,  and  is, 
for  this  reason,  here  thrown  out  by  some  critics  as  a  scribal  inser- 
tion ;  but  such  repetition  is  possible  (for  ex.,  i*''  =  d^"*").  Grk.  has 
only  the  first  half,  omitting  the  words  afid  live ;  but  for  this  omis- 
sion there  is  no  good  reason.  In  the  present  state  of  the  text  there 
seems  to  be  nothing  better  than  to  attach  the  fine  to  the  first  line 


*  The  mother  also  was  doubtless  the  instructor  of  the  child  (see  iS),  whether  or 
not  she  is  mentioned  in  this  verse. 

t  On  the  education  of  children  see  Nowack,  Heb.  Arch.,  I.  p.  172;  Schiirer, 
Gesch.  (=  Hist,  of  the  Jezv.  People,  II.,  2,  ^  27),  and  the  literature  therein  named. 


IV.  3-6  8/ 

of  the  next  verse,  though  it  is  an  objection  to  this  construction 
that  the  resultant  couplet  does  not  present  a  satisfiictory  parallel- 
ism—  we  expect  a  whole  couplet  devoted  to  wisdom,  preparatory 
to  vA  No  arrangement  of  the  lines,  however,  is  entirely  free 
from  objections.  —  And  live  —  that  thou  mayest  {by  them)  live, 
that  is,  "  that  they  may  secure  the  happiness  of  a  long  earthly 
life  ;  "  for  the  idea  see  3-.  —  5.  The  present  Heb.  text  reads  :  get 
wisdom,  get  understanding,  forget  not,  ajid  turn  not  away  from 
the  words  of  my  mouth.  If  the  wording  be  genuine,  the  iteration 
expresses  the  earnestness  of  the  sage,  who  identifies  his  instruc- 
tions with  wisdom.  But  the  present  form  is  hardly  original.  The 
second  line  {ajid  turn,  etc.)  belongs  naturally  with  v.^'' ;  and  the 
expression  forget  not  should  properly  follow  not  get  wisdom,  etc., 
but  keep  my  commandinents.  The  former  phrase  is  omitted  in  the 
Grk.,  which  reads  :  keep  comma7idments,  forget  not,  and  neglect 
not  the  discourse  of  my  mouth ;  this  is  in  itself  clear,  but  it  makes 
the  teacher's  discourse  the  antecedent  of  v.*'  {forsake  it  not), 
whereas  the  tone  of  v.''-  ^-  '•'  almost  forces  us  to  regard  wisdom  as 
their  subject.  It  is,  therefore,  better  to  omit  the  second  clause 
{and  turn,  etc.)  as  a  gloss  on  v.'*''",  and  also  the  forget  not,  and 
retain  the  rest  as  an  introduction  to  v.".  —  Other  proposed  con- 
structions are  :  forget  not  to  acquire  ivisdom,  and  swerve  not  from 
the  words  of  her  mouth  (Graetz),  which  has  the  advantage  of  offer- 
ing only  one  subject  (as  in  v."),  but  is  open  to  the  objection  that 
Wisdom's  "  mouth  "  is  nowhere  else  mentioned  ;  Oort  also  would 
omit  get  understanding  (as  gloss  on  get  wisdom),  and  add  to 
forget  not  some  such  expression  as  my  laiu  (as  in  3'),  but  thinks 
that  the  whole  verse  is  probably  a  scribal  insertion  ;  get  wisdom, 
get  understanding,  forget  not  \_the  instruction  of  my  lips'],  and 
swerve  not,  etc.  (Bickell).  While  the  general  sense  is  plain,  the 
original  form  can  hardly  be  recovered.  It  seems  probable  that  in 
v.^  the  writer  passes  from  reference  to  his  own  "  instruction  "  to 
the  praise  of"  wisdom."  If  the  Grk.  reading  of  v.^'-^  be  adopted 
(see  above),  we  must  probably  suppose  a  break  at  the  end  of  v.^, 
the  following  paragraph  (v."'^^)  having  lost  a  couplet  in  which 
ivisdom  was  introduced.  —  6.  Synonymous,  binary.  In  the  Heb. 
the  subject  of  the  discourse  is  wisdom  or  understanding  which 
preserves  its  followers,  as  in  2" ;   in  the  Vat.  Grk.  the  subject  is 


88  PROVERBS 

the  utterance  or  instruction  of  the  sage,  the  function  of  which  is 
the  same  as  in  3'-  ^ ;  the  essential  thought  is  the  same  in  both. 
The  verb  love,  used  in  the  ethical  sense,  with  man  as  subject,  here 
has  the  abstract  wisdom  as  object  (in  i"^  its  opposite,  ignorance')  ; 
in  the  Prophetical  books  (Am.  5'^  Mic.  3^  «/.)  the  object  is  gen- 
erally right  conduct,  in  the  legal  books  (Dt.  6^  Lev.  19'^  al.) 
Yahweh  and  man,  in  ^  (26^  119''^  «/.)  Zion  and  the  Tora.  —  The 
sing,  her  appears  to  point  to  one  antecedent  in  v.',  whereas  Heb. 
there  has  two  terms.  —  1..  The  text  is  corrupt,  .and  the  verse 
should  probably  be  omitted.  The  Heb.  reads  :  the  begijuiifig  of 
tvisdom — get  wisdoDi,  and  in  all  thy  substance  get  understanding, 
or  buy  wisdom,  and,  with  all  that  thou  hast  gotten,  buy,  etc.,  that 
is,  buy  wisdom  at  the  price  of  all  thy  property,  cf.  23-''  Mt.  13'*^"  ^^ 
or,  along  with  all,  etc.  (AV.  with  all  thy  getting  is  incorrect). 
The  rendering  wisdom  is  the  principal  thing  (RV.  Zockler,  in 
Lange)  is  here  out  of  the  question;  the  word  (nTK"i),  in  the 
sense  of  best,  chief,  principal,  never  occurs  undefined  (only  twice 
in  OT,  undefined,  Isa.  46'"  and  the  doubtful  Gen.  i\  both  times 
in  the  ■s.tws.Q  oi  beginning) ,  and  here  we  obviously  have  the  familiar 
expression  the  beginning  of  wisdom.  This  expression  cannot  be 
brought  into  intelligible  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  verse. 
The  statement  the  beginning  of  loisdom  is  "get  wisdom,''  if  syn- 
tactically possible  (which  is  doubtful),  involves  an  intolerable  tau- 
tology, and  the  same  objection  holds  to  the  rendering  (obtained 
by  changing  Impv.  to  Inf.)  .  .  .  to  get  ivisdom.  Bickell,  to  avoid 
the  tautology,  reads  the  beginning  (or,  chief)  of  thy  wealth  is, 
etc.,  which  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  tone  of  the  paragraph,  is 
without  Versional  support,  and  is  an  unnatural  form  of  expression. 
—  The  resemblance  between  v.''  and  v.'^'^  is  obvious ;  the  former  is 
expansion  of  the  latter,  or  both  are  corruptions  of  the  same  orig- 
inal. In  any  case  v.'^  interrupts  the  connection  between  v."  and 
V.*,  and  is  probably  a  gloss.  Possibly  the  expressions  get  wisdom 
and  get  understanding,  written  in  the  margin  as  a  summary  of  v.'*"^, 
got  into  v.^,  and  then  in  expanded  form  were  inserted  as  v''  ;  this, 
if  it  happened,  must  have  happened  after  the  Vat.  Grk.  Vrs.  was 
made  —  the  omission  of  such  passages  by  the  Grk.  translator  is 
not  probable.  See  note  on  v.'^.  —  8.  Synonymous,  binary.  The 
meaning  of  the  first  vb.  is  not  quite  certain.     It  may  signify  cast 


IV.  6-9  89 

up  an  embankment  against  a  thing,  or  (Grk.)  around  a  thing, 
so  as  to  protect  it;  or,  make  a  rampart  of  a  thing  (Jager), 
surround  one's  self  with  a  thing  as  a  protection ;  or  cast  up  as  a 
highway  (cf.  15'^  Isa.  57"),  and  so  make  plane  and  firm  ;  or,  per- 
haps, simply  i-aise  up,  exalt,  esteem  highly,  prize  (cf.  the  similar 
form  in  Ex.  9'' ) .  This  last  agrees  with  the  parallel  embrace,  and 
is  adopted  by  most  expositors.  Syr.  Targ.  have  freely  love  her ; 
Lat.  Rashi :  lay  hold  of  her ;  Saad. :  give  thyself  up  to  her.  A  pro- 
posed emendation  is  :  despise  her  not  (Frankenberg),  which  gives 
a  good  sense  but  not  a  perfect  parallelism.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. Lit.  give  to  thy  head  a  chaplet.  Beauty  (or,  g?-ace)  and 
glory  are  physically  descriptive  terms  —  the  sense  is  beautiful 
chaplet  and  glorious  (or,  splendid)  croiun ;  cf.  i"  BS.  6^^^  25^ 
The  expression  may  be  suggested  by  a  custom  of  wearing  chaplets 
and  crowns  at  feasts,  or  on  other  joyful  occasions,  as  weddings ; 
cf.  Ez.  16'-  23*-  Isa.  28'  Job  19^  BS.  32";  how  far  such  a  custom 
existed  among  the  earlier  Hebrews  the  OT.  does  not  inform  us, 
but  it  may  easily  have  been  borrowed  at  a  later  time.* 

1.  S  takes  nyT  as  subst.,  and  connects  it  by  1  with  nra.  —  2.  ^  npS; 
(5  hihpov,  IL  donum.  —  |^  •'mir^;  H-P  68.  161.  248  Comp.  Aid.  rhv  efxbv  \6yov, 
which  hardly  represents  a  different  Heb.  text  from  ours  —  not  necessarily 
Christian  correction  ( Lag.) ,  more  probably  rhetorical  variation.  —  3.  (S  vir-qKoos 
may  be  rendering  of  pj  ^^  taken  as  =  sofi,  submissive;  Lag.  holds  it  to  be 
rendering  of  ip  poor  (Lev.  25-^"');  Held,  of  "yy  oppressed  (^26^^  ^  10^^ al.), 
neither  of  which  terms  is  here  appropriate,  or  liltely  to  be  rendered  by  iivfiKoos, 
The  connection  in  |^  requires  a  descriptive  term  between  p  and  •'3xS;  ii 
might  be  transposed  so  as  to  stand  before  ''?  or  before  n^in,  but  the  signifi- 
cation would  still  make  difficulty  unless  it  could  be  understood  as  =  petted 
(3r  pJDc),  parallel  to  beloved  in  ^.  Read  ijn  ijij'^mM  -\-\  in\T  p  ''D. — The 
KAyOi  of  (5  is  probably  inserted  to  bring  out  the  proper  emphasis.  —  |^  T'n'; 
read  T'T';  (g  here  has  ayawwiJievos;  T'ni  is  rendered  by  ayair-qTos  Gen.  22-- 1-- 1^ 
((§B  Joes  not  contain  these  passages)  Am.  8^"  Jer.  6"^  Zech.  12^'',  by  fjiovoyev-^s 
Ju.  1 1^''  ((g'^  adds  ayairriT-fi)  \j/  22-1  25!^  35I'',  and  by  fj.ouoTp6wovs  i/*  68'';  tiii  is 
always  rendered  by  some  form  of  d7a7r.;  we  cannot,  therefore,  determine  |§ 
from  (5;  but  in  any  case  T'H''  must  here  mean  only  child,  and  this  in  the 
connection  is  inappropriate.  On  the  MS.  reading  ijaS  instead  of  •'jfjS  see 
De'  Rossi's  note. — 4.  In  ^  the  vbs.  might  be  read  as  sing.,  as  in  ||J,  or  plu., 
as  in  @. — 'E/aetS^Tw  may  represent  |^  "|?3rTi  taken  as  Nif.  (see  Concord,  of 

*  Cf.  Nowack,  Heb.  Arch.,  \.  p.  185  f.,  and  for  the  Grk.  and  Rom.  customs,  Becker, 
Char.,  E.\c.  I.,  Gall.,  Exc.  L,  and  the  refs.  in  the  Diets,  of  Antiqs. 


90  PROVERBS 

Grk.),  or  perh.  "i^rD^  (De.).  —  6  iifierepos  \6yos,  =  ij"i3"i,  hardly  original,  proba- 
bly rhetorical  interpretation  of  Grk.  translator.  —  |^  n^n%  lacking  in  (g^  (^H 
ast.,  retained  by  Proc);  the  clause  was  perhaps  introduced  from  y^,  where  it 
is  natural  (S>  adds  y^^  at  end  of  v.) ;  according  to  Lag.  .T^ni  comes  from  the 
half-obhterated  n::^n  of  a  gloss  (see  note  on  next  verse) .  —  After  •''?  ©  inserts 
nini,  so  as  to  express  divine  authority  for  the  teaching,  or  it  =  ■>%  erroneous 
repetition  of  the  two  ">  in  7an"i  ^S  (Pink.).  —  5.  ^  nj>3  njp  nnjn  njp,  lacking 
in  (gB  (^H  ast.) ;  Or.  reads  'n  mjp  as  obj.  of  nyi'n  S>s,  and  omits  '3  'p  as  gloss, 
but  p  as  obj.  of 'n  does  not  occur  elsewhere  and  is  not  a  natural  construction. 
The  whole  expression  (together  with  n>ni)  interrupts  the  connection  between 
>."nsa  (v.*)  and  'n  Sn,  and  if  v.^''  be  retained  must  be  regarded  as  a  gloss; 
it  may  be  retained  if  v.^''  be  thrown  out;  see  note  on  v.'^.  —  7.  Lacking  in  @^ 
(&^  ast.) ;  it  interrupts  the  connection  between  v.^  and  v.^,  is  syntactically 
and  lexicographically  difficult,  and  must  be  regarded  as  scribal  insertion. 
Lag.'s  explanation  of  v.'^  and  v.^"  is  as  follows :  v.^,  in  distichal  form,  stood 
in  the  margin  of  some  Heb.  MS.,  and  was  incorporated  into  the  text  in  two 
places  by  two  different  scribes;  one  inserted  it  after  v.^,  writing  nc3n  for  an 
illegible  word  which  followed  ~'';;'Nn  (the  word  should  be  a  synonym  of  pjp, 
and  Bi.  writes  ^''n) ;  the  other  found  't  and  ^J''Jp  V321  illegible,  and  omitted 
them,  made  nTii  out  of  the  first  'n,  and  attached  the  resulting  sentence  to  v.'*. 
This  ingenious  and  complicated  reconstruction  still  leaves  an  unsatisfactory 
couplet  ^/le  best  of  wealth  is  get  wisdom  and,  etc.  As  'n  —\  cannot  be  brought 
into  syntactical  relation  with  the  rest  of  the  sentence,  it  may  be  better  to 
regard  it  as  a  fragment  of  a  distich  similar  to  i',  and  to  take  the  rest  of  the 
verse  as  a  fragment  of  another  distich  similar  to  23^3,  though  it  is  hard  to  say 
how  the  text  assumed  its  present  shape.  —  8.  |^  Sd'^D;  @  (and  so  ^f^)  Trepi- 
XafidKUcrov;  ,S2C  3i3n;  IL  arripe.  The  vb.  may  be  denom.  from  n'^^b  or 
nbpc;  but,  as  from  these  nouns  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  st.  =  lift  up  (so 
here  Aben  Ez.  Qamhi),  it  may  here  be  rendered,  in  general  accord  with  the 
rest  of  the  v.,  prize.  For  other  renderings  see  Schultens'  note.  Frank,  pro- 
poses to  emend  to  m'^Dn  '?n,  from  Aram.  nSo,  =  Heb.  m,  on  which  see  note 
on  this  V.  above.  —  In  ^  (5,  not  so  well,  takes  n33  as  Impv.  with  3  sing.  fern, 
suff.,  attaches  2  sing.  suff.  to  'p^t,  and  connects  by  'iva  (|§  13).  SIIT  reverse 
the  positions  of  the  vbs. — 9.  hmS  occurs  only  twice  in  OT.,  here  and  i^;  the 
stem  in  Heb.  and  Aram.  =  he  attached  to,  accompany,  in  Arab,  and  Eth.  twist, 
wind  (so  perh.  also  in  Heb.  in''i':'),  which  is  the  meaning  in  hm^.  Or.  (as  in 
I^)  reads  pS^So.  —  |^  ^J3an;  (5  {iirepacnrlarj,  but  stem  |JD  {  =  give,  give  up 
Gen.  14^0  Hos.  ii^)  is  not  connected  with  po  shield,  which  appears  to  come 
from  p  enclose,  protect.  Gr.  proposes  ^J;^"l  bind  (see  6^1)  which  is  hardly 
better  than  |^. 

10-19.  A  separate  discourse,  consisting  of  exhortation  to  obey 
the  sag-e's  instruction  (v."'"^''),  and  to  avoid  the  way  of  the 
wicked  in  view  of  their  character  (v.'^''),  with  a  description 


IV.   lo-ii  91 

of  the  paths  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  (v.^*  '").  The 
order  of  verses  m  the  second  half  is  unsatisfactory,  and  is  variously 
changed  by  commentators.  Hitzig  omits  v.'"- '''  as  interpolation, 
inverts  the  order  of  v.'^-  '',  and  before  the  latter  inserts  for ; 
Delitzsch,  Nowack,  Strack,  Graetz  simply  invert  the  order  of 
yi8. 19^  Bickell  places  v.^''  ^"  after  v.'*- ^^  The  inversion  of  the 
order  of  v.^*- "  seems  to  be  all  that  is  needed  to  secure  a  natural 
sequence. 

10.  Hear,  my  son,  and  receive  my  words, 
And  the  years  of  thy  life  will  be  many. 

11.  In  the  way  of  wisdom  I  instruct  thee, 
Lead  thee  in  the  paths  of  uprightness. 

12.  When  thou  walkest,  thy  steps  will  be  unimpeded, 
And  if  thou  run,  thou  wilt  not  stumble. 

13.  Hold  fast  i  my  >  instruction  —  let  it  not  go  — 
Keep  it,  for  it  is  thy  life. 

14.  Enter  not  the  path  of  the  wicked, 
Walk  not  in  the  way  of  bad  men; 

15.  Avoid  it,  traverse  it  not. 
Shun  it,  and  pass  on. 

16.  For  they  sleep  not  unless  they  have  done  harm, 

Nor  slumber  unless  they  have  made  some  one  stumble; 

17.  They  eat  the  bread  of  wickedness. 
And  dpnk  the  wine  of  violence. 

19.    The  way  of  the  wicked  is  like  darkness  — 
They  know  not  at  what  they  stumble. 

18.  But  the  path  of  the  righteous  is  like  the  light  of  the  dawn 
Which  shines  ever  brighter  till  the  full  day  comes. 

10.  Protasis  and  apodosis,  ternary,  or  quaternary.  Lagarde  (by 
a  slight  change  of  text)  reads  :  hear,  my  son,  the  instruction  of  my 
words,  etc.,  but  elsewhere  instruction  is  ascribed  not  to  words,  but 
to  a  person,  and  the  verb  receive  is  favored  by  2^.  The  form  of 
address  is  similar  to  that  of  v.' ;  on  sing,  son,  instead  of  plu.  sons, 
see  note  on  that  verse.  The  reward  —  long  life  —  as  in  3^-  ^*'.  It 
is  again  the  sage  that  is  the  source  of  instruction.  — 11.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.  The  sage  (as  in  v.~)  characterizes  his  instruction. 
Not  (RV.)  have  taught  (or,  instructed')  and  have  led ;  the  refer- 
ence is  to  the  present  instruction.      Wisdom  is  here  parallel  to 


92  PROVERBS 

uprightness,  practical  moral  goodness.  There  is  no  mention  of  a 
divine  law  ;  this,  no  doubt,  is  taken  for  granted,  but  the  teacher's 
present  interest  is  the  practical  guidance  of  life.  — 12.  Synony- 
mous, ternary-binary,  or  ternary.  The  inducement.  For  the  ex- 
pression of  first  cl.  cf.  Job  1 8"';  lit.  thy  step  zvill  not  be  straitened. 
The  life  of  a  good  man  is  likened  to  a  journey  on  a  well-made 
road  —  there  will  be  no  narrow  and  difficult  ways,  nor  any  stones 
or  other  occasions  of  stumbling,  even  when  one  runs ;  cf.  3^-  ^.  — 
13.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Repetition  of  exhortation.  The  my  in- 
struction (after  the  Grk.  —  the  Heb.  has  simply  instruction)  is  in 
accordance  with  v.^"- ",  in  which  the  teacher  offers  his  own  words 
for  the  guidance  of  the  pupil.  The  it  is  fern,  in  the  Heb.,  though 
the  word  for  instruction  is  masc. ;  the  writer  in  thought  identifies 
the  latter  with  wisdom  ;  cf.  2'-  ^i- -•-'--.  Life  is  to  be  understood 
as  in  v.^" ;  it  includes  not  only  length  of  days,  but  also  all  else 
that  is  desirable  ;  while  the  reference  is  not  primarily  or  chiefly  to 
the  inner  life,  this  is  probably  involved  in  the  writer's  scheme  — 
moral  enlightenment,  he  means  to  say,  is  the  essence  of  life  (cf. 
Eccl.  12^^),  and  is  to  be  resolutely  grasped  and  held.  Grk. :  keep 
it  for  thy  life,  the  same  idea  as  in  the  Hebrew. 

14-17.  "Warning  against  association  with  bad  men  on  the 
ground  of  their  moral  character.  — 14,  15.  Synonymous ;  v."  is 
ternary,  v.^^  is  binary  (curt,  sharp  injunction).  Warning.  Emphatic 
iteration.  In  v.'""^  the  sense  is  not  even  if  thou  etiter,  continue  not 
to  walk  therein.  On  walk  see  critical  note.  — 16,  17.  Synony- 
mous ;  v.^'^  is  quaternary,  v.^''  ternary.  Characterization  of  the 
manner  of  life  of  the  wicked.  Hyperbolical  expression  of  their 
Ufe  as  one  of  violence  (legal  and  illegal  unkindness,  oppression, 
robbery,  murder).  The  type  of  character  portrayed  is  an  ex- 
treme one,  reckless  violence ;  no  account  is  taken  of  those  whom 
moral  evil  has  only  slightly  touched.  The  writer  may  have  in 
mind  the  foreign  and  native  oppressors  of  the  Jews  in  the  fourth 
and  third  centuries  B.C.,  as  in  xp  14.  53.  64.  74,  etc. ;  more  proba- 
bly he  is  thinking  of  a  class  of  men  that  was  numerous  in  the 
great  cities  of  that  period,  unscrupulous  government  agents,  reve- 
nue farmers,  grasping  and  desperate  men  of  all  sorts,  some  of 
whom  are  described  by  Josephus.     The  conditions  of  the  society 


IV.  12-19  93 

of  the  time  were  favorable  to  violence  and  oppression,  and  it  is  on 
these  conditions  that  the  writer  bases  his  description,  which  must 
thus  be  taken  as  a  local  picture  of  life.  His  division  of  men  is 
simple  :  they  are  wholly  good,  or  wholly  bad,  or  ignorant  and 
stupid ;  he  does  not  recognize  the  nicer  and  more  complicated 
experiences  of  the  soul.  There  is  a  certain  justification  for  this 
general  point  of  view  :  evil,  it  may  be  said,  whatever  its  degree, 
is  always  evil,  and  therefore  to  be  avoided  ;  dallying  with  trans- 
gression of  assured  moral  rules  is  dangerous.  This  is  the  sharply 
defined,  objective  old-Hebrew  view,  which  stands  in  contrast  with 
the  modern  disposition  to  distinguish  and  divide,  to  recognize 
good  and  evil  in  all  things.  —  The  defining  terms  wickedness  and 
violence  (v.^')  may  express  substance  or  origin ;  the  meaning  may 
be  that  these  are  the  food  and  drink  of  the  wicked  (cf.  Job  15"^ 
34'),  or  that  the  latter  procure  the  necessaries  and  goods  of  life 
by  these  means  (cf.  9^^),  and  both  these  senses  are  permitted  by 
the  general  connection  and  by  the  parallelism  of  v.^*^ ;  the  first 
interpretation  is  favored  by  Procopius,  Schultens,  Umbreit  al.,  the 
second  by  C.  B.  Michaelis,  De.,  Zockler,  Strack,  Nowack.  The 
general  sense  is  not  affected  by  this  difference  of  interpretation  ; 
the  first  sense  appears  to  suit  the  context  better.  —  The  last  word  of 
v.^"  cause  {some  one)  to  stumble  presents  a  difficulty  :  the  object  is 
not  expressed  in  the  Heb.  (the  form  in  the  text  is  intrans.,  the 
trans,  form  is  given  in  the  margin),  and  the  Syr.  has  ////  they  do 
their  desire  ;  the  Heb.  may  be  corrupt,  but  no  satisfactory  emenda- 
tion is  obvious.  —  Hitzig  omits  v.^*^-  ^'  on  the  ground  that  they  have 
no  logical  connection  with  v.'"',  but  the  relation  between  the  verses 
seems  clear. 

18,  19.  Contrasted  fortunes  of  wicked  and  righteous,  pre- 
sented as  a  motive  for  living  righteously.  As  v.^""*  connects  itself 
by  the  sense  with  v.^',  and  the  initial  and  {but)  of  v.^'*  more  natu- 
rally indicates  a  contrast  with  v.^'-*,  it  is  better  to  transpose  the  two 
verses.  —  19.  Progressive,  ternary.  The  characterizadon  of  the 
life  of  bad  men  as  uncertain  and  perilous  follows  fitly  on  the  pre- 
ceding description  of  their  moral  character.  The  figure  is  that  of 
a  man  stumbling  on  in  darkness  —  so  the  wicked  is  exposed  to 
perils  of  fortune.     These  pertain  not  to  his  inward  moral  and 


94  PROVERBS 

religious  experiences,  but  to  his  outward  fate ;  the  reference,  as 
the  context  shows,  is  not  to  the  darkening  of  the  intellect  and  the 
hardening  of  the  conscience  by  sin,  but  to  outward  uncertainty 
and  misfortunes,  such  as  sudden  death  and  the  loss  of  worldly 
goods  (cf.  i^^-^^  2^'  etc.).  —  Instead  of  as  darkness  some  Heb. 
MSS.  have  in  darkness,  and  the  ancient  Vrss.  dark;  our  text  is 
favored  by  the  as  of  v.^^.  The  noun,  used  only  in  poetry  and 
solemn  prose,  means  deep  darkness  and  gloom  ;  so  in  Ex.  lo-^ 
Dt.  28-'-'  Joel  2^  etc.,  and  cf,  the  similar  term  in  Job  3^  10^^  <//  91". 
—  18.  Comparison,  quaternary.  From  the  connection  the  refer- 
ence is  not  to  the  glory  of  the  righteous  life,  but  to  its  security. 
The  good  man  walks  in  safety  —  his  path  is  clear,  and  not  beset 
with  dangers  ;  the  explanation  is  given  in  3^"-".  It  is  happiness 
and  security  from  outward  evils  in  this  life  that  is  meant.  Such  a 
conception  of  the  perfect  well-being  of  the  righteous  may  have 
paved  the  way  for  the  later  doctrine  of  immortality,  though  this 
doctrine  is  not  hinted  at  in  Proverbs.  —  The  rendering  dawji  is 
not  certain.  Grk.,  taking  the  word  as  verb  :  the  ways  of  the 
righteous  shine  like  tight — grammatically  good,  but  not  favored 
by  the  form  of  v,'",  in  which  the  standard  of  comparison  is  a  noun 
{darkness) .  The  rendering  of  the  Lat.  Vulg.  (and  so  Syr.  Targ. 
RV.),  shining  light  (obtained  by  a  change  of  vowels),  is  not 
probable,  as  this  expression  (light  defined  by  its  brightness)  does 
not  occur  elsewhere.  The  term  brightness  is  used  in  a  general 
way  (Ez.  i^  Isa.  62^),  and  with  reference  to  the  light  of  fire 
(Isa.  4^),  of  the  moon  (Isa.  60^^),  the  stars  (Joel  2^"),  the  sun 
(Am.  5^"  Isa.  60^  Hab,  3*  2  Sam,  23'*) ;  here,  as  in  Isa,  60^,  it 
seems  to  be  the  light  that  precedes  the  full  day,  —  The  last  expres- 
sion in  the  v.,  lit.  ////  the  day  is  established  (or,  certain),  probably 
means  the  coming  of  full  day  in  contrast  with  early  light  or  dawn 
(see  critical  note).  Many  expositors,  however  (Rashi,  Schult., 
Fleisch.,  De.,  Reuss,  al.)  understand  it  to  signify  noon,  when  the 
day  reaches  its  height,  or  (De.)  when  the  sun  appears  to  stand 
still  in  the  zenith,  or  (Fleisch.),  in  a  figure  taken  from  scales, 
when  the  tongue  of  day  is  vertical.  The  perfect  day  of  the  Lat. 
(adopted  by  RV.)  lends  itself  to  either  interpretation,  and  is  per- 
haps preferable  for  that  reason.  Ewald,  who  takes  the  reference 
to  be  to  the  forenoon  sun,  thinks  that  the  figure  is  derived  from 


IV.  19,  i8  95 

Ju.  5'^'  (the  rising  sun  dispersing  darkness).  —  However  the  doubt- 
ful terms  be  rendered,  the  general  sense  is  plain  :  the  God-fearing 
man  walks  in  a  light  (divine  guidance)  which,  so  far  from  growing 
less,  continually  increases,  and  shields  him  from  all  harm. 

10.  Instead  of  |^  npj  the  noun  np^  is  read  by  Lag.,  who  objects  to  the 
obj.  after  two  Imps.;  ^'DO",  he  thinks,  cannot  well  be  taken  as  isolated  exhorta- 
tion, and  elsewhere  in  this  series  of  paragraphs  (4}-  ^  5^)  the  initial  vb.  of  hear- 
ing or  heeding  is  followed  by  its  own  noun  (some  word  signifying  utterance  or 
teaching).  On  the  other  hand,  see  note  above  on  this  word;  (§ —  '^.  In  *>  (g 
has  two  renderings,  one  =  |^,  while  in  the  other  mmx  or  lOTi  stands  instead 
of  nui",  or  (Heid.),  less  probably,  niSoi:'  (^'?'3r?),  which  does  not  occur  else- 
where in  Pr.  The  second  rendering,  as  freer,  is  prob.  original  (Jag.,  Lag.), 
only  65ol,  which  is  unnatural,  seems  to  l^e  scribal  error,  through  incorrect  hear- 
ing of  the  copyist  (itacism),  or  through  oSovs  in  next  v.,  or  through  corruption 
of  the  Heb. —  ST  "'JC,  error  for  i'7D.  —  11.  The  vbs.  are  Pres.  Perfs. — |^  -\•^-\■, 
(5  65oi)s  (and  so  5>3C),  which  agrees  with  plu.  in  '•,  and  may  be  rhetorical 
assimilation,  or  original  Heb.  reading.  —  12.  |^  ^J;i',  poetic  and  elevated  term 
for  step,  walk;  plu.,  by  natural  usage  of  language,  in  ©SIL  and  RV. — 
5  ]'j}V}  shaken,  free  rendering  of  ||J  ij;\  —  13.  Read  ■noir',  with  (5  ^^i^s 
watSe/as,  as  the  connection  requires.  In  '^  (5  has  free  rendering  of  |^.  — 
14.  1^  ntrsn  (st.  as  in  nw",  and  Arab,  id)  ;  the  Pi.  occurs  elsewhere  only  in 
caus.  sense  =  lead,  or  call  happy,  and,  as  the  connection  (parallel  N^n)  here 
suggests  the  meaning  go  foriuard,  walk,  it  is  better  to  point  as  Qal,  as  in  9''; 
Lag.  writes  niifn  (for  nia'sn),  which  perh.  gives  an  easier  rhythm.  The  Vrss. 
translate  by  regard  as  fortunate  (^desirable),  be  pleased  with,  envy,  (§  ^rfkdxrris, 
AG  ixaKaplaris,  &^  pT,  3L  tibi  placeat  (and  in  ^  IL,  by  assimilation,  has 
delecteris).  — 15.  |§  inv?-iD  is  sustained  by  parallel  nor;  ®  (foil,  by  ^)  iv 
If  dLV  Tdiro)  a-TpaToweSeiJO-wa-iv,  perh.  =  inyiD  (Jag.)  or  lopD  (Lag.),  or  DnyiD 
(Oort)  their  pasture-ground  or  camp,  though  the  word  occurs  in  OT.  only  of 
flocks;  Heid.  suggests  the  improbable  ^Si:  district  (only  Neh.  3^  "'•  (S  -nepi- 
Xw/3os) ;  Schult.,  after  the  Arab.,  distiirba  seriein  ejus,  "  give  up  association 
with  them;  "  3C^»°-  ii""^**  (Buxt.  z'-\n  '3lr.  tr'nx),  heed  not,  pass  over,  without 
suff .,  and  following  suffs.  in  plu.  —  nau'  is  perhaps  Aramaism.  —  16.  |^  K 
1^11:0%  Q  better  'h^Z':^-'  (so  ST),  though  without  obj.  expressed  (see  Ew.,  §  303  c)  ; 
(5  Koifj.SivfaL  (writing  1  instead  of  ax)  =  laDS'i  (Schleusn.,  Lag.)  or  1231^ 
(Oort),  less  prob.  ijr^  (Heid.);  Si  pnjias  ]:-\2]!  do  their  will,  not  =  iS^a'^'' 
cook,  mature  (Umbr.)  or  •b-'Va^  get  control  (?/"(Heid.),  but  free  rendering  or 
interpretation  of  |^  =  (/(j  harm,  work  their  wicked  will  on  (JK>  work  fall  or 
destruction^.  Oort  proposes  to  read  in''n':'i  destroy,  of  which,  he  suggests,  the 
iPC'i  of  v.i'^  may  be  mutilation.  Bi.  regards  ^  as  scribal  erroneous  copy  of 
last  word  of  v.^^  (which  v.  he  puts  immediately  before  v.^^),  and  reads  iji'?^ 
tnurmur,  speak  blaspheviously,  which  (§,  he  holds,  took  wrongly  in  its  other 
sense  of  lodge.     These  readings  offer  no  advantage  over  J^.  —  17.   |§  o''D.':n; 


g6  PROVERBS 

(5  irapavofxii)  =  pj — |^  irii'i;  (g  nedvcTKovTai  =  nDi'i  or  nx',  which  Oort 
thinks  may  be  the  true  reading  of  pj,  the  iniri  being  then  corruption  of  in^n'i'i 
(see  n.  on  v}^).  S>'^  their  bread  {p-orh)  is  the  b.  of  wickedness  (®  of  the 
wicked),  vi\i\c\i  is  not  favored  by  ^  — 19.  pj  ^'^?^'?;  15  MSS.  and  Bibl.  Brix. 
have  a  instead  of  3,  and  so  (§S2C3L  have  adjs.  =  dark,  a  reading  which  agrees 
well  with  ^,  giving  explicitly  the  reason  why  the  wicked  stumble  —  their  way  is 
in  darkness  ;  on  the  other  hand  |^  is  favored  by  the  2  of  v.^^  —  the  way  is  dan- 
gerous, like  darkness.  —  Instead  of  hz^z^  noJ  Bi.  (on  what  ground  he  does  not 
state)  reads  iSirDaa  \^ihey  do  not  perceive  or  take  note  of'\  its  stumbling-blocks, 
which  does  not  appear  to  be  rhythmically  or  otherwise  better  than  |§.  — 18.  (5 
takes  njj,  ~^\7\  and  iin  as  preds.  of  nns  (which  it  reads  as  plu.,  65ol) ;  this  is 
hardly  possible  so  far  as  regards  the  two  last,  which  naturally  refer  to  the  noun 
niN;  the  first  may  be  understood  as  Partcp.  agreeing  with  niN  (so  SsW^L  and 
RV.)  or,  less  probably,  with  mx  (in  which  case  it  must  be  fern.  —  so  perh. 
(5),  or  as  vb.  (Oort)  referring  to  mx  (so  perh.  (@),  or  as  subst.  defining  ^^^^ 
In  this  last  case  it  must  mean  dazvn,  early  light,  and  this  rendering  is  favored 
by  the  fact  that  it  offers  a  contrast  to  the  full  day  of  ''.  The  pointing  as 
Partcp.  agreeing  with  mx,  while  grammatically  good,  is  rhetorically  not  proba- 
ble; light  is  said  to  shine  (Isa.  g-t^)  Job  18^  22-^),  and  the  moon  is  said 
(Isa.  13^")  to  cause  its  light  to  shine,  but  light  is  not  elsewhere  described  as  a 
shining  thing;  if  the  epithet  were  employed,  the  expression  would  naturally 
be  defined  by  the  name  of  the  luminary  or  source  of  light,  njj  does  not  else- 
where in  OT.  certainly  occur  in  the  sense  of  dawn  (possibly  in  Isa.  62^,  cf. 
2  Sam.  23*) ;  but  cf.  <S  xnju  BS  50^,  where  (@  has  darrip  eu0iv6s  and  %  stella 
matutina. — 1[^  j^d),  an  impossible  pointing,  since  the  word  is  not  a  subst.; 
point  poj,  Perf.  Nif.  The  OT.  meaning  of  the  word  is  limv^X'j  fixed,  firm, 
which  may  here  refer  either  to  full  day  or  to  noon;  on  the  expressions  to 
(TTadepov  Tfjs  TjfjL^pas,  r]  ffradepcL  fieffrip-^pLa,  Arab.  iNnjVx  PDiNp,  =  noon,  see 
Schult.,  Ges.  (Thes.)  Fleisch.,  De.,  and  cf.  Lucan,  Phars.,  ix.  528,  529. 

20-27.  A  paragraph  similar  to  the  three  preceding,  containing 
injunctions  to  give  heed  to  the  teacher's  instructions  (v.-'^-^) 
and  to  practise  rectitude  (v.-^-"). 

20.  My  son,  attend  to  my  words. 

To  my  instructions  lend  thine  ear, 

21.  Let  them  not  depart  from  thee. 
Keep  them  in  mind. 

22.  For  they  are  life  to  those  who  find  them, 
Health  to  their  whole  being. 

23.  With  all  vigilance  guard  thou  thyself. 
For  thus  wilt  thou  gain  life. 

24.  Banish  from  thee  wickedness  of  mouth. 
Sinfulness  of  lips  put  far  from  thee. 


IV.   20-23  97 

25.  Let  thine  eyes  look  straight  forward, 
Thy  gaze  be  directed  straight  before  thee. 

26.  Let  the  path  of  thy  feet  be  smooth, 
Let  all  thy  roads  be  firm. 

27.  Turn  not  to  right  nor  to  left, 
Keep  thy  feet  away  from  evil. 

20,  21.  The  exhortation.  —  20.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Instruc- 
tions and  lend  are  Ht.  sayings  (or,  words')  and  turn  (or,  incline). 
See  notes  on  3"^  4^-^''.  —  21.  Synonymous,  binary-ternary.  Lit.: 
Let  them  not  depart  from  thine  eyes,  keep  them  in  thy  mind  {\SX.. 
heart,  the  inward  being),  =  keep  them  in  mind.  On  depart  see 
note  on  3-^  Syr.  and  Targ.  have  the  improbable  reading  let  them 
not  be  despicable  in  thine  eyes.  —  22,  23.  Ground  of  the  exhorta- 
tion.—  22.  Synonymous,  ternary  (or,  binary).  The  grammatical 
number  is  uncertain.  We  may  read  :  for  they  are  life  to  those 
who  find  them  and  health  (or,  healing)  to  all  their  being  {\\L  fiesh), 
ox  ...  to  him  who  finds  .  .  .  all  his.  Life,  as  in  2-^  y-  ^"  4",  = 
long  life  or  preservation  of  life,  which  comprehends  all  outward 
earthly  blessing.  The  synonym  health  (or,  healing),  involves  de- 
liverance from  the  evils  of  life  ;  cf,  3^.  Flesh  stands  for  body,  and 
so  =  being ;  cf.  bones  and  (in  the  corrected  text)  body  in  3*.  The 
terms  fiesh,  heart,  soul  often  =  self.  The  Gk.  here  has  all  flesh, 
=  all  jnen,  as  in  Gen.  6'^,  etc.  —  23.  Single  sentence,  ternary. 
Vigilance  as  source  of  life  and  happiness.  The  Heb.  in  first  line 
reads  :  fnore  than  all  guarding  (=  "with  more  vigilant  guarding 
than  in  any  other  case  ")  watch  thou  over  thy  heart,  =  "  watch  thy 
heart  (or,  thyself)  more  than  anything  else  "  ;  the  same  general 
sense  is  given  by  the  rendering  :  above  all  that  thou  guardest,  etc. 
(De.,  RV.  marg.),  but  this  signification  ("the  thing  guarded") 
the  word  has  not  elsewhere  in  OT.  In  this  interpretation  the 
object  of  the  comparison  (between  the  heart  or  self  and  other 
things)  is  not  clear,  and  is  not  found  elsewhere  in  Proverbs.  A 
better  sense  is  given  by  the  Greek  reading  :  with  all  watching 
guard  etc.,  that  is,  in  every  way,  with  all  possible  vigilance  and 
diligence  (so  AV.,  RV.),  —  The  second  line  is  lit.:  for  from  it 
are  the  outgoings  of  life,  that  is,  the  beginning  or  origin  (usually 
the  "  border  "  or  "  boundary,"  Ez.  48^^",  once,  apparently,  "  escape," 
(//  68^<-^').     The  it  may  grammatically  refer  to  heart,  but  Prov. 

H 


98  PROVERBS 

everywhere  else  (as  in  2-- '' *  ^^- "  4'' '°  "  6^  8''^)  represents  life  as 
the  result  of  acceptance  of  wisdom  and  obedience  to  instruction  ; 
we  should  probably,  therefore,  take  the  it  to  refer  to  the  "  guard- 
ing "  of  first  line:  "therefrom  (=  from  thy  diligent  obedience) 
proceeds  life."  *  The  word  heart  is  to  be  understood  as  =  self, 
and  not  as  indicating  a  contrast  between  inward  and  outward  life  ; 
such  a  contrast  is  not  found  in  Prov.  —  the  outward  life  is  treated 
as  the  expression  of  the  inward  self  —  Life  —  prosperity.  The 
sense  of  the  couplet  is  :  with  utmost  care  guard  thyself  from  sin 
—  thus  wilt  thou  be  happy.  The  use  of  heai't  as  =  intellectual 
being  does  not  rest  on  a  belief  that  the  heart  is  the  centre  of  the 
physical  life.  The  blood  was  held,  by  common  observation,  to  be 
the  life  (Dt.  12^^),  but  the  function  of  the  heart  in  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  was  unknown  to  the  Hebrews,  and,  whatever  impor- 
tance they  may  have  attached  to  this  physical  organ  as  prominent 
in  the  cavity  of  the  body,  no  less  importance  was  attached  to 
other  organs,  as  the  bowels  and  the  kidneys  (and  perhaps  the 
liver,  but  not  the  brain) .  The  ground  of  their  assignment  of  par- 
ticular mental  functions  to  various  physical  organs  is  not  known  to 
us. — 24,25.  Against  wicked  speech.  —  24.  Synonymous,  quater- 
nary. Wickedness  and  sinfulness  (RV.  frowai-d  and  perverse^ 
mean  departure  (turning  aside)  from  truth  and  right,  contrariness 
to  good ;  cf.  notes  on  2^*  3^".  The  man's  utterance  is  understood 
to  express  and  be  identical  with  his  thought  and  purpose  ;  so  that 
the  precept  is  equivalent  to  "think  no  evil."  There  is  perhaps 
also  the  implication  that  evil  thought,  when  embodied  in  words, 
acquires  greater  consistency,  and  goes  on  its  bad  mission  beyond 
the  thinker's  control.  —  25.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Uprightness 
of  conduct  symbolized  by  straightforwardness  of  look,  in  contrast 
with  the  devious  and  crooked  ways  of  wickedness  (v.^^).  The 
serious  man  fixes  his  gaze  on  the  goal  and  suffers  nothing  to  turn 
it  aside.  The  rendering  in  first  Hne  :  look  to  the  right  (=  right- 
eousness') (Frank.)  is  unnecessary,  and  is  not  in  keeping  with  the 
figurative  form  of  second  line  and  v.-''-  '^ .  —  26,  27.  The  path  of 
rectitude.  —  26.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary  (or,  perhaps,  ter- 
nary).    That  is,  "make  thee  a  plane,  solid  road  in  life."     The 

*  This  seems  to  be  the  interpretation  of  Saadia  and  Rashi. 


IV.  23-27  99 

figure  is  taken  from  the  preparation  of  a  highway  for  a  king  or  an 
army  (Isa.  40"  ■*)  — hills  are  cut  down  and  valleys  filled,  crooked 
roads  are  made  straight  and  rough  places  smooth,  so  that  there 
shall  be  no  need  to  turn  aside  from  the  highroad.  Even  so  a  man 
must  arrange  his  path  in  life,  walking  in  the  straight  and  smooth 
way  of  rectitude.  —  The  word  make  level  occurs  in  5'''-^^  Isa.  26^, 
i//  yS'"';  the  sense  weigh,  ponder  (denom.  from  scales,  \p  58'^'^^)  is 
not  here  appropriate.  The  second  verb  is  equivalent  to  the  first, 
meaning  ////  t?i  good  condition  of  stability  and  security,  not  mark 
off,  lay  out,  though  these  terms,  like  ordered  and  RV.  established, 
involve  the  same  general  idea ;  like  the  first  it  has  the  general 
sense  of  preparedness  (Ex.  19"  \\)  7").  Grk.  :  make  straight 
paths  for  thy  feet  (so  freely  Heb.  la'^')  and  make  thy  ways 
straight,  which  agrees  in  sense  with  the  Heb.,  though  it  is  not 
verbally  accurate ;  evil  is  crookedness  (v.-^)  and  good  is  straight- 
ness.  —  The  plane  and  solid  way  in  life  is  to  be  secured  (v.-""") 
by  accepting  the  instruction  of  the  sage,  that  is,  of  Wisdom. — 
27.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  straight  way.  Duty  consists  in 
walking  unswervingly  in  the  path  so  prepared  (v.^'')  —  to  swerve, 
the  second  cl.  explains,  is  to  fall  into  evil,  physical  and  moral.  — 
Grk.  appends  the  quatrain  :  For  the  ways  of  the  right  hand  God 
kjioweth,  but  distorted  are  those  of  the  left.  And  he  himself  ivill 
make  straight  thy  paths,  and  guide  thy  goings  in  peace.  The  con- 
ception here  differs  from  that  of  v.-'^-''  in  two  points  (Hitz.)  : 
right  and  left,  instead  of  representing  both  of  them  divergencies 
from  the  straight  path  of  rectitude,  express  the  one  the  good  way 
and  the  other  the  bad,  and  the  ways  are  made  straight  not  by  the 
man  but  by  God.  The  insertion  (which  is  the  expansion,  by 
the  addition  of  the  second  and  fourth  Hues,  of  a  modified  form 
of  5-')  was  made  by  some  one  who  felt  that  the  fact  of  divine 
supervision  ought  to  be  strongly  brought  out.  Lagarde  thinks 
that  it  does  not  go  back  to  a  Semitic  original,  but  is  the  work  of 
a  Greek-speaking  Christian  of  the  primitive  period ;  he  refers  to 
the  numerous  dissertations  on  the  two  ways  in  life.*  On  the 
other  hand,  De.  shows  that  it  can  be  naturally  expressed  in  He- 
brew.    It  is  hardly  possible  to  determine  whether  it  is  due  to  a 

*  Plato,  Laws,  iv,  717,  referred  to  in  Pluf.,  Isis,  26. 


100  PROVERBS 

Jew  or  to  a  Christian,  but  in  any  case  it  bears  witness  to  the  free- 
dom, in  dealing  with  the  text,  which  copyists  or  editors  allowed 
themselves.  —  Hitzig  regards  the  Heb.  v.^'  as  a  superfluous  scribal 
amplification ;  however,  it  adds  something  to  the  thought  of  v.^^, 
is  not  out  of  keeping  with  the  tone  and  manner  of  the  section, 
and  is  found  in  all  Ancient  Versions. 

21.  1^  vh^  Hi.,  only  here;  we  should  perh.  read  Qal  (as  in  3-^),  so  Bi. 
(5  Sttws  /XT?  iKXiTTwaiv  ere,  perh.  reading  ^'^^,  from  ^r:;  cf.  note  on  3^'.  For 
||J  yy;^  (gABx-  have  at  ir-qyal  ffov  (=Tr/5)  and  (g23. 252. 254. 297  ^j  ^_  .^^j 
^wrjs  (Tov  ((!|-^^  omits  crov) ;  Lag.  regards  the  latter  (which  Procop.  also  has) 
as  the  original;  but  as  the  reading  of  (^ab.s  has  no  meaning,  the  words 
T.  f.  ff.  may  have  been  added  by  a  Grk.  scribe  to  make  sense.  Nor  is  there 
probability  in  Lag.'S  view  that  the  8ca  iravrbs  (—  njJ  Sds)  of  (!|-^^-^^  (inserted 
after  '\22^)  belongs  to  the  Heb.  original;  cf.  (g  6-1.  Heid.  suspects  in  (§  pro- 
vision against  a  possible  Pharisaic  interpretation  of  the  cl.  as  a  reference  to 
the  frontlets  of  Dt.  6^! — SSC  ir;^  (Lag.  72)  ]'''v:,  from  S'?r,  as  in  3'^!,  on 
which  see  note.  — 22.  As  the  suffs.  in  oniXiO  and  nu'3  are  inconcinnate,  one 
of  them  must  be  changed;  the  sing.  i  cannot  be  retained  as  individualizing; 
S^T  write  the  first  as  sing;  (@  here  has  plu.,  but  in  ^  (§^^'%  omit  suff. 
(giving  an  improbable  reading),  avroO  is  added  in  n<^"-  A  23,  254  S^  and 
airdv  in  109,  157,  252,  297;  these  all  go  back  to  ^,  and  show  that  its  form  is 
early.  — The  itSlctl  of  (§""  "'•  before  rots  evpiaKovcnv  may  be  a  part  of  the  Grk. 
original,  but  does  not  call  for  the  insertion  of  ^d  in  |^.  The  air-qv  in  =*  seems 
to  have  py}(TL$  (v.-")  in  view.  —  23.  ^  i3U'o  Src;  the  prep,  is  p  in  ^T  and  A9 
(d7r6  TracTos  4>v\a.yiia.Tos),  a  in  S  and  apparently  in  (S  (TrdcrTj  (pvKaKrj),  and 
3L  {pmni  custodia) ;  the  latter  is  adopted  by  Oort,  Bi.,  Frank.,  RV.,  and 
seems  preferable;  'n  means  properly  the  act  of  zuaUhi>7g,  hardly  the  thing 
'cvatched — the  two  interpretations  give  the  same  general  sense.  —  The  to-utwv 
of  (5  in  ^  appears  to  refer  to  the  X670is  of  v.-'^  (so  Procop.  understands  it) ; 
the  pronouns  in  the  section  are  strangely  varied  in  ®.  —  24.  The  Vrss.  except 
ST,  render  by  various  adjs.  the  substs.  which  in  |§  are  defined  by  r\Q  and 
uV-^s;'  (so  RV. )  <S  Np''C>J  deep,  representing  |^  mti'p;*,  is  apparently  miswrit- 
ing  of  Nn-ip;?  (E  Nrnp^)  ;  cf.  Si  22*5.  —  On  niiS  see  Ew.,  §  165  h,  Stade,  §  304  r, 
Preuschen,  in  ZAT.,  1895,  ^^^^  De.'s  note;  the  regular  form  of  stat.  const. 
(from  TiS)  would  be  '^  —  this  seems  to  be  poetic  variation,  unless  it  be  from 
an  otherwise  unknown  st.  n;S,  like  niaif,  nij'i'  from  7\yi'.  The  forms  in  n-i 
appear  to  be  Aramaisms.  —  25.  Both  terms  of  direction  hdjS  and  ■^^JJ  are 
improperly  understood  by  (§  in  an  ethical  sense,  6p9a  and  dlKaia  (and  so  S>^ 
Procop.),  and  the  first  by  S2uiL  (not  by  AGS);  cf.  ;/'  if.  —  2Q.  pj"  is  para- 
phrased by  S9r  keep  thy  feet  (lit.  make  t.  f.  pass  by')  from  evil  -ways  (as  in 
V.2').  IL  dirige  for  dSs.  —  |^  '?3  is  omitted  by  (§  (in  reversal  of  its  custom, 
which  is  to  insert  a  So  in  such  statements),  except  H-P  296  (correction  after 
J^).     i:;''  is  taken  as  active  by  (§ASG.  —  For  variations  of  patrist.  writers  see 


IV.  27-V.  2  lOI 

H-P.  —  27.    |l|  j;"»D;   (§  dirb  oSov  KaKrjs,  as  in  2^^  — Qn  the  added  quatrain 
in  (S  see  note  above. 

V.  A  discourse  against  sexual  licentiousness  in  men.  —  After 
the  usual  introductory  exhortation  to  give  heed  to  instruction 
(v.^-^),  the  deadly  influence  of  the  harlot  is  described  (v,^"''),  the 
pupil  is  cautioned  to  avoid  her  lest  loss  of  wealth  and  destruction 
come  on  him  (v.'""),  and  is  urged  to  conjugal  fidelity  (v.^"°),  the 
motive  presented  being  the  fate  of  the  vi^icked  (v."-^).*  Cf 
BS.  23'"--«  42*-!^ 

The  Deadly  Power  of  the  Harlot.    V.^A 

1.  My  son,  give  heed  to  []  wisdom, t 
To  []  understanding  f  lend  thine  ear, 

2.  That  discretion  may  watch  <  over  thee,' 
That  knowledge  []  may  preserve  i  thee,> 
[To  save  thee  from  the  harlot. 

The  woman  of  enticing  words.] 

3.  For  the  lips  of  the  harlot  drop  honey, 
Her  words  are  smoother  than  oil; 

4.  But  at  the  last  she  is  bitter  as  wormwood, 
Sharp  as  a  two-edged  sword. 

5.  Her  feet  go  down  to  Death, 
Her  steps  lead  down  to  Sheol; 

6.  <  No '  well-built  highway  of  life  she  walks, 
Uncertain  her  paths  and  not  <  firm.' 

1,2.  The  general  exhortation.  —  1.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The 
Heb.  (in  this  followed  by  all  Anc.  Vrss.)  has  the  poss.  prons.  7/n' 
wisdom  and  my  understanding ;  but  the  sage,  while  he  speaks  of 
his  own  words,  commandments,  law,  instruction,  never  elsewhere 
claims  rvisdom  (=  understanding,  knowledge,  insight,  or  discretion^ 
as  his  own,  but  represents  it  as  the  goal  to  which  his  instruction 
leads;  see  2^''^-^^^  3^-^  ^1.2.10.20.  ^^j.  ^^  meanings  of  the  terms  see 
note  on  i-"^.  —  2.  The  text  is  in  disorder,  and  can  be  only  con- 
jecturally  restored  ;  and  the  connection  between  v?  and  v.^  is  not 
expressed.      The  Heb.  (followed  substantially  by  all  Vrss.  except 

*  On  v.21  see  note  on  that  verse  below. 

t  Heb.  :  my  wisdom  and  my  understanding. 


I02  PROVERBS 

Grk.)  reads  to  preserve  [=  that  thou  jjiayest  preserve']  discretion 
[=  sagacit}',  insight],  and  that  thy  lips  may  keep  knowledge.  But 
the  reference  to  the  lips  of  the  pupil,  proper  in  ^^,  is  out  of  place 
here ;  lips  utter,  but  do  not  keep ;  we  should  rather  expect  thy 
mind  {heart),  as  in  3^  4'*,  or  simply  keep  thou,  as  in  4^"  7^,  if  the 
point  is  the  inward  acceptance  of  wisdom  or  instruction.  The 
mention  of  the  lips  of  a  strange  woman,  in  v;'',  might  suggest,  as 
contrast,  my  lips ;  so  Grk.  :  and  the  knoivledge  of  my  lips  is  en- 
joined [or,  according  to  another  reading,  /  enjoin]  on  thee.  This 
is  so  far  better  than  the  Heb.  as  it  refers  to  the  utterance  of  lips, 
but  it  is  syntactically  not  in  accord  with  the  preceding  (in  which 
the  pupil  is  the  subject),  and  the  expression  is  strange  —  the  lips 
of  the  teacher  are  nowhere  else  described  as  the  possessors^  of 
knowledge,  though  they  are  said  (15")  to  scatter  knowledge,  that 
is,  by  words.  These  considerations  are  unfavorable  to  the  emen- 
dations that  the  knowledge  of  my  lips  may  be  preserved  for  you 
(Oort),  and  that  my  lips  may  etijoiti  knowledge  on  thee  (Bickell). 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  construe  the  expression  thy  lips  (or,  my 
lips),  which  appears  to  have  been  introduced  by  an  early  scribe 
from  the  next  verse.  Dyserinck,  omitting  this  expression,  and 
seeking  a  connection  between  v.^  and  v.'\  reads  :  that  thou  mayest 
keep  discretion  and  knowledge,  that  they  may  preserve  {thee)  from 
the  stra77ge  woman  (cf.  ']'^).  Some  such  form  as  this  is  required 
by  the  connection.  The  resemblance  between  this  passage  and 
2U.  IB  yi-5  jg  obvious,  and  we  should  probably  here  introduce  a 
couplet  like  2^''  7^,  and  read  :  that  discretion  may  watch  over  thee 
and  ktiowledge  p/eserve  thee,  to  save  thee  from  the  strange  woman, 
etc.  (as  in  the  translation  given  above). 

3-6.  Description  of  the  harlot;  cf  2^*"-i»  7.5-21.26.27^  The  de- 
scription follows  abruptly  on  the  exhortation,  while  elsewhere 
there  is  an  easy  transition  from  the  appeal  {hear,  attend)  to  the 
subject-matter  of  the  instruction.  Before  v.^  the  Grk.  inserts  give 
no  heed  to  a  worthless  wo7nan  (Lat.  .  .  .  to  a  woman^s  deceit)  ;  but 
this  destroys  the  distichal  form  of  the  verse  ;  it  is  a  scribal  effort 
to  secure  connection  between  v."  and  v.^,  but  it  is  not  in  the 
manner  of  similar  passages,  and  probably  does  not  represent  a 
Heb.  text.     On  other  proposed  transitional  expressions  see  note 


V.  2-3  I03 

above;  some  reference  to  the  strange  woman  must  have  preceded 
v.'^,  but  it  was  early  lost.  —  The  warning  is  addressed  only  to  men  ; 
nothing  is  said  of  the  danger  to  women  from  the  seductions  of 
men.  This  silence  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  belief  that  women 
were  more  hedged  in  and  guarded  by  social  arrangements,  and 
less  exposed  to  temptation  than  men ;  but  it  is  chiefly  the  result 
of  the  fact  that  in  the  O  T.  (as  in  most  ancient  and  modern  works 
on  practical  ethics)  it  is  only  men  that  are  had  in  mind,  the  moral 
independence  of  women  not  being  distinctly  recognized.  The 
only  addresses  to  women  as  such  in  OT.  are  the  denunciation  of 
the  luxurious  ladies  of  Jerusalem  in  Isa.  3^''-4^  (connected  with 
the  nation's  defection  from  Yahweh),  and  the  similar  sarcastic 
prediction  of  Am.  4'"'',  directed  against  the  great  ladies  of  Samaria. 
Ez.  (13'''^^)  denounces  the  prophetesses  in  their  official  capacity. 
Ben-Sira  (2  5-"'-'^  26^"  42®'")  directs  the  husband  how  to  deal  with 
his  erring  wife,  and  the  father  how  to  manage  his  daughter,  but 
addresses  no  word  of  advice  to  women.  In  our  chapter  the  man 
who  is  warned  is  thought  of  as  married  (v.'*),  and,  if  we  may  con- 
clude from  7^",  the  woman  against  whom  he  is  warned  is  married. 
The  married  state  is  regarded  as  the  normal  one ;  in  ancient  life, 
men,  as  a  rule,  were  married  at  an  early  age.  —  3.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. On  strange  ivoman,  =  harlot,  see  note  on  2''^.  The  specious, 
soft-speaking  hps  are,  compared  to  a  honeycomb,  and  are  said  to 
drop  honey  (the  word  means  the  honey  of  the  comb),  an  expression 
which  in  Cant.  4"  denotes  not  sweet  speech  but  bodily  sweetness. 
Bickell  judges,  from  the  parallelism,  that  the  verb  drop  does  not 
belong  here,  but  has  been  introduced  from  Cant.  4",  and  that  we 
should  read  the  lips  .  .  .  are  honey ;  the  emendation  hardly  im- 
proves the  rhythm  of  the  Heb.,  and  is  otherwise  improbable  — 
the  sweetness  of  honey  is  a  standard  of  comparison  in  the  Bible 
(Ju.  \^^*  Ez.  3'^  Rev.  10^'"  1//  19^"  iiq'"^),  but  neither  mouth  nor 
lip  is  called  honey;  we  might,  perhaps,  say  are  sweet  as  honey,  or, 
are  as  honey,  though,  while  words  are  called  honey  (16"^),  the 
mouth  or  the  lip  is  rather  the  source  from  which  the  honey  drops 
or  flows.  —  The  term  rendered  words  (RV.  mouth)  is  properly 
palate  (roof  of  the  mouth),  to  which  the  tongue  cleaves  from 
thirst  (Lam.  4'*)  or  from  emotion  (Job  29'"),  the  result  being 
sometimes  dumbness  (Ez.  3-'^)  ;    it  is  the  organ  of  physical  taste 


I04  PROVERBS 

(Job  12"),  and  thence  comes  to  express  intellectual  discernment 
(Job  6^")  ;  and  it  is  used,  as  here,  for  the  vocal  cavity  as  the  seat 
of  speech  (8'  Hos.  8')  ;  its  smoothness  denotes  ilattery  (29')  or 
hypocrisy  (</'  5^°)  ;  so  Eng.  smooth  and  oily.  —  The  woman  is  de- 
scribed as  mistress  of  cajoling,  enticing  words  ;  see  the  specimen 
of  her  persuasions  given  in  7^*"-".  Rashi  and  other  Jewish  exposi- 
tors explain  the  figure  of  the  woman  as  Epicureanism  (philosophi- 
cal scepticism,  irreligiousness),  or  as  heresy  in  general  (including 
idolatry)  ;  and  it  was  similarly  allegorized  by  some  early  Christian 
writers.  —  4.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit.  the  end  (RV.  lattej-  end) 
of  her  is  bitter,  etc.,  that  is,  the  final  outcome  or  result  of  relations 
with  her;  the  term  etid  (Heb.  aharith)  always  involves  the  idea 
of  final  judgment.  In  contrast  with  the  sweetness  and  smooth- 
ness of  the  woman's  speech  and  demeanor  is  put  the  bitterness 
and  sharpness  of  the  doom  she  brings  on  men  (v.^).  Wormtvood 
is  a  symbol  in  OT.  of  suffering,  as  the  result  of  man's  injustice 
(Am.  5'  6'-),  or  as  divine  punishment  (Dt.  29^*'^'^'  Jer.  9^5''^>  23'^ 
Lam.  3'^- '")  or,  as  here,  as  the  natural  outcome  of  man's  sin.  The 
plant  meant  is  some  species  oi  Artemisia*;  the  word  is  probably 
here  used  in  a  generic  sense  ;  Grk.  bite,  the  other  Vrss.  absinthium. 
—  5.  Synonymous,  ternary.  See  2'^  Death  is  here  a  place,  =  the 
realm  of  death,  =  Sheol.  —  Lead  doivn  to  is  lit.  take  hold  on  (as 
in  \\i  17^)  =  cleave  to,  follow  (or,  keep)  the  ^path  to.  On  Sheol 
see  note  on  i^^'.  The  woman's  manner  of  life  is  represented  as 
fatal  to  earthly  well-being  —  to  enter  into  relations  with  her  is  to 
go  the  way  that  shortens  one's  days ;  the  purely  moral  side  of  the 
procedure  is  not  referred  to.  This  is  part  of  the  general  repre- 
sentation of  the  Book  that  wickedness  brings  death,  that  is,  pre- 
mature and  unhappy  death  ;  so  2^"- "  4'^.  Whether  in  the  present 
case  death  comes  from  the  weakening  of  bodily  strength  or  by 
direct  intervention  of  God  is  not  said.  The  connection  does  not 
suggest  a  reference  to  legal  punishment.  —  Grk.  :  for  the  feet  of 
folly  (perh.  a  philosophical  abstraction)  lead  her  associates  with 
death  to  Hades,  and  her  steps  are  7iot  firmly  fixed,  paraphrase,  loith 
instead  of  to,  incorrect  division  of  the  verse,  and  consequent  inser- 


*  See  Celsius,  Hieroboianicttm  ;    Tristram,  Survey  ;   J.  H.  Balfour,  Plants  of  the 
Bible. 


V.  3-6  105 

tion  of  the  negative.  Lat.,  second  cl. :  her  steps  penetrate  imto 
the  Underworld  or  the  dead  {ad  inferos).  —  6.  Text  and  trans- 
lation are  uncertain.  The  Heb.  reads  :  the  path  of  life  lest  she  [or, 
thoii]  make  level,  her  ways  are  unstable  \_totter,  reel,  luaiider  aim- 
lessly\,  she  knoivs  not  [or,  thou  knotucst  not'\  ;  that  is,  her  ways 
are  unstable  in  order  that  she  7nay  not  [or,  that  tliou  may  est  not'\ 
prepare  the  paths  of  life ;  but  in  sentences  in  which  the  protasis 
is  introduced  by  lest,  the  apodosis  always  states  that  which  is 
done  in  order  that  something  else  may  not  happen  (the  two 
things  must,  of  course,  be  different),  while  here  the  two  clauses 
are  identical  in  meaning  —  to  say  that  her  paths  are  unstable  in 
order  that  they  may  not  be  stable,  or,  in  order  that  thou,  if  thou 
walk  in  them,  raayest  not  be  stable  (cf.  4^*^),  gives  no  sense,  and 
could  not  have  been  written  by  the  Heb.  author.  The  Anc.  Vrss. 
take  first  cl.  as  an  independent  affirmation  parallel  to  second  cl., 
and  have  not  instead  of  lest,  and  this  no  doubt  gives  the  proper 
general  form  (but  RV.  so  that  .  .  not  is  impossible).  The  con- 
nection indicates  that  it  is  the  woman  (and  not  the  man)  that  is 
spoken  of  throughout  the  verse  ;  the  verb  in  first  cl.  means  jnake 
plane,  and  not  enter  on,  walk  in  (Anc.  Vrss.),  or,  ponder  (Schult. 
RV.  marg.).  The  last  phrase  of  the  verse,  she  knoivs  not,  is 
strange,  whether  it  be  taken  to  mean  that  she  knows  not  that  her 
ways  are  unstable,  or  that  she  knows  not  whither  her  ways  wander 
—  the  point  indicated  by  the  connection  is  not  her  ignorance  (in 
9^^  ignorance  is  appropriately  introduced,  and  cf.  i/'  35*^),  but  the 
evil  character  of  her  paths.  Our  verse  is  clearly  intended  to 
express  the  contrast  to  4-" :  there  make  level  the  path  of  thy  feet, 
here  she  does  not  make  level  the  7vay  of  life  ;  there  let  all  thy  ways 
be  made  firm,  here  her  paths  are  unstable  and,  after  which  we 
expect  an  expression  =  not  fi?-m.  There  might  seem,  further,  to 
be  tautology  in  the  terms  way  of  life  and  7nake  level,  since  a  way 
that  leads  to  life  must  of  necessity,  according  to  OT,  usage,  be 
level ;  but  life  here  appears  to  stand  as  contrast  to  the  death  of 
the  preceding  verse,  and  the  verb  may  be  retained  in  the  sense  of 
prepare,  or  may  be  changed  to  one  meaning  tread  or  enter,  as  in 
the  Versions.  We  may,  with  probability,  read  :  she  prepares  not 
a  highway  of  life,  lie r  paths  wander  and  are  not  firm.  —  Notwith- 
standing the  uncertainties  of  the  text,  the  general  sense  of  the 


I06  PROVERBS 

verse  is  clear  :  the  path  of  the  harlot  is  unstable  and  does  not 
lead  to  life  —  the  verse  states  negatively  what  v.^  states  positively, 
that  is,  she  and  her  associates  are  doomed  to  a  premature  and 
wretched  death, 

1.  Drop  the  i  pers.  suffs. ;  see  note  above.  —  (5  writes  ^  as  in  4-'',  \6yoi^ 
(so  S>,  only  sing.),  exc.  H-P  23,  252,  which  have  (ppoviria-ei.  ^^  has  doublet, 
first  =  (@E«'-  (with  obel.),  second  =  |^(§-^-  ^^-,  the  latter  being  correction  after 
1^.  Between  <3^  and  pj  it  is  not  easy  to  decide;  p?  is  perh.  favored  by  the 
parallelism. — 2.  To  n:;:;''?  Bi.  appends  suff.  -\,  which  is  proper  (as  subj.), 
though  not  necessary  in  poetical  style.  SST,  taking  'D  as  subj.,  render  'Z'h  by 
Pass.  Impf.  and  insert  a  before  'c.  —  |^  ni3?:o;  (5  evvoiav  a.'ya.Oijv.  —  In  ^ 
(gB.s*(vid)  S^iad-qcns  5k  ifiQv  x"^^'^"  fVT^Weral  croL^m^  iS  iPfltJ'  'il  (Jag., 
adopted  by  Bi.);  the  other  MSS.  of  (5  dicr97](riv  .  .  .  ivT^Wofiai  ctol  z= 
nixN  .  .  .;  on  the  objection  to  this  reading  and  that  of  |^  see  note  above. 
The  passage  should  perhaps  stand  as  follows  (cf.  2^^-  ^^)  : 

t-isji  nJ;^^  hdtd  TiDtrn 
npiSnn  nnox  nnsjD  mr  nrxa  ^S^xn'7 

Or,  the  first  half  only  of  second  line  may  be  inserted,  and  we  shall  then  have 
a  couplet  quaternary-ternary.  —  3.  (§  (and  so  substantially  3L)  prefixes  /jltj 
irpdffexe  4>a(i\ri  yvvaiKi,  —  n^MX  nrxS  3^'.:'pn  Sx,  against  which  the  objection 
based  on  the  rhythm  seems  decisive,  though  some  such  connecting  phrase  (see 
note  on  v.^  above)  is  necessary.  — 1§  mr;  (§  TvbpvT)s,  —  nj;,  or  free  rendering 
of  1^. — 1^  p'^r\;  IL  nitidius  (=  more  shining  ox  sleeker),  free  trans,  of  |^,  or 
perh.  from  some  form  of  S^n. — |^  icn'ip;  (5  Trpos  Kaiphv  apparently  (Lag.) 
for  -Kph  iXalov;  29  virip  eXaiov;  for  abv  read  t6v  (Jag.).  —  Bi.  improperly 
omits  njoap,  which  is  required  by  the  usage  of  language.  —  The  primitive 
sense  of  in  (for  "ijn)  palate  is  uncertain,  perh.  a  narroxv  aperture  or  passage 
(Ges.  Thes.,  Dillm.  Lex.  Ling.  Aeih.,  cf.  pjn,  pjy) ;  the  vb.  is  denom.,  =  in 
Arab,  to  rub  a  child'' s palate  (with  chewed  dates,  etc.)  when  it  is  named,  proba- 
bly by  way  of  dedication  to  the  clan-deity  (W.  R.  Smith,  Kinship,  p.  154),  and 
hence  perh.  initiate,  dedicate,  educate  ;  in  Heb.  train  a  child  (22^),  dedicate  a 
private  residence  (Dt.  20^)  or  a  temple  (i  K.  S''^)  ;  cf.  note  on  22^;  the  proper 
name  lun  (if  it  be  Heb.)  may,  like  Arab.  y^r\,  mean  a  man  of  experience  or 
wisdom.  Cf.  Lane,  Lex. ;  BDB.  —  On  ST  see  Lag.,  Pink.  — 4.  Instead  of  pj  as 
(d)  (5  has  than  (0  =  jc) ;  cf.  Heb.  4^^.  Ss  has  jc  in  both  clauses,  3^  in  i'  only; 
there  was  confusion  between  3  and  D  in  the  Heb.  MSS.  (easy  in  either  the  old 
or  the  square  script).  —  At  end  of  "  (§  rhetorically  adds  evpifjceLs,  and  ^  makes 
suff.  to  nnns"  plu.,  referring  to  its  words  in  v.^  (|^  in).  —  5.  On  the  para- 
phrasing text  of  (@  see  notes  of  Jag.,  Lag. ;  it  paraphrases  suff.  in  n^^Sj-i,  takes 
nn-f  as  Hif.,  has  rx  before  m*:,  and  Nif.  of  idp,  before  which  it  inserts  neg.; 
SE  Gr.  -|?:d;  1L  penetrant;  S"  nPD(=  (@) ;  Bi.  writes  'Hi  'S  sing.;  there  is 
no  reason  for  changing  |^,  unless,  as  in  2^^,  preps,  be  inserted  before  mn  and 


V.  6 


T07 


^)X"\  though  these  may  stand  as  objectives  without  preposition. — 6.  |tj  jd  is 
unintelligible;  the  connection  requires  a  neg.  (perh.  S2),  as  all  Anc.  Vrss.  take 
it.  Succeeding  interpretations  have  been  various.  Talmud,  A/oed  Katon,  9  a  : 
do  7iot  ponder  the  path  of  life  (that  is,  to  discover  the  precepts,  obedience  to 
which  is  most  rewarded  by  God) ;  Rashi :  do  not  ponder  the  zvay  of  the  life  of 
the  woman,  for  all  her  paths  lead  to  death;  Schultens  (connecting  it  with  5'^)  : 
(she  plunges  into  Sheol)  lest  perchance  she  should  ponder,  etc.,  and  possibly 
repent  (a  result  which  she  wishes  to  avoid)  ;  C.  B.  Mich. :  (her  ways  wander) 
lest  thou  ponder,  etc. ;  Ew.  al.  :  lest  she  ponder ;  Nowack,  Strack :  that  she 
may  not  enter  on  ;  Kamp. :  that  she  may  miss;  De.  (adopting  an  untenable 
translation  of  ;d)  :  she  is  far  from  entering;  Noyes :  she  gives  no  heed  to; 
Frank,  omits  the  line  as  incapable  of  satisfactory  translation,  but  thinks  that 
(@  gives  the  sense  properly.  The  objections  to  ja  are  first  its  position  (not  at 
beginning  of  clause),  and  secondly,  the  identity  of  content  of  the  two  clauses; 
on  the  supposed  similarity  in  this  last  respect  of  15^3  (i^'c'",  cited  by  Now.), 
see  note  on  that  verse.  —  |^  ms;  S  N>'"*>^',  miswriting  of  NmiN  (Vogel). — 
1^  D'?3n;  (5  freely  irr^pxeTai  (and  so  ^'iE)  ;  IL  ambulant,  referring  to  pedes 
v.^,  or  to  gressus  v.^;  Gr.  "|SD.n  subvert.  |^  may  be  retained. — ||J  jjin  N"?  is 
omitted  by  Bi.  as  marring  the  parallelism;  it  is  rhythmically  and  in  sense 
inappropriate.  The  Vrss.  represent  |^;  (S  (foil,  by  <SIL)  x-al  ovk  evy'vujaTOL 
(referring  to  T/jox'cit),  =  she  knows  them  not;  VL,  reproducing  |^  exactly  (only 
pref.  1)  Hyi'  N*^!;  Schult.  hand  curat,  and  so  most  later  expositors  (as  RV.) 
she  kno'ivs  (or,  observes)  it  not;  C.  B.  Mich.:  so  that  thou  knowest  not  (where 
thou  art).  Some  expression  here  seems  required  by  the  rhythm,  and  we  may 
doubtfully  emend  to  ub^  (4"^)- 

7-14.  After  this  general  description  of  the  perils  of  association 
with  the  harlot,  the  discourse  repeats  the  warning  against  her 
(v"^^),  basing  it  on  the  suffering  she  brings,  namely,  loss  of 
wealth  (v."^"),  and  closing  with  a  picture  of  the  victim's  use- 
less regret  (v."""). 

7.  Now,  therefore  i  my  son,'  hearken  to  me. 
And  depart  not  from  the  words  of  my  mouth. 

8.  Keep  thy  path  far  from  her. 

Go  not  near  the  door  of  her  house; 

9.  Lest  thou  give  up  thy  <  wealth  '  to  others. 
The  (toil  of)  thy  years  to  <  aliens,' 

10.  Lest  strangers  enjoy  thy  substance. 
And  thy  labors  (go  to)  an  alien's  house; 

11.  And  thou  groan  at  last, 

When  thy  body  and  flesh  are  consumed, 

12.  And  say:   "Alas!   I  have  hated  instruction. 
And  guidance  I  have  despised; 


I08  PROVERBS 

13.  I  have  not  listened  to  the  voice  of  my  teachers, 
Nor  hearkened  to  my  instructors; 

14.  I  had  weUnigh  come  to  complete  grief 
In  the  congregation  and  the  assembly." 

7,  8.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Exhortation  :  "  seeing  she  is  as  I 
have  said,  avoid  her."  The  Heb.  has  plu.  sons,  but  the  sing,  is 
called  for  by  the  rest  of  the  address,  and  is  found  in  the  Grk.  and 
the  Latin.  The  woman  (probably  married,  but  whether  married 
or  unmarried)  has  her  own  house. 

9,  10.  Synonymous  ;  v.^  is  ternary-binary  ;  v.^"  is  ternary.  More 
particular  statement  of  the  loss  she  inflicts.  Our  Heb.  text  reads  : 
9.  Lest  thou  give  up  thine  honor  to  others  and  thy  years  to  the  cruel 
[or  to  a  cruel  one^  10.  lest  strangers  be  filled  with  thy  strength, 
and  thy  labors  (go)  into  an  alien's  house.  The  strength  of  v.^"  = 
wealth,  as  in  Job  6'--  {KW.  substance).  In  v."  (which  seems  in- 
tended to  express  the  same  thought  as  v.^°)  the  parallelism  sug- 
gests the  reading  ivealth  (or  perhaps  life,  as  in  the  Grk.)  instead 
of  honor,  and  the  meaning  will  then  be  that  all  the  outcome,  the 
earnings,  of  the  man's  life  pass  into  the  hands  of  others.  If  the 
reading  honor  be  retained,  this  word  must  be  interpreted  simi- 
larly, as  equivalent  to  years,  that  is,  the  labor  of  years,  wealth, 
called  honor  because  it  gives  a  man  an  honorable  position  among 
men.  The  two  clauses  of  v."  must  be  taken  as  synonymous ;  we 
cannot  understand  honor  as  expressing  the  freshness  and  grace  of 
youth,  and  years  the  dignity  of  age.  The  term  cruel,  if  it  be  the 
right  reading,  is  parallel  and  equivalent  to  others,  strangers,  aliens, 
and  is  to  be  understood  as  describing  the  pitiless  character  of 
these  persons  (creditors,  sharpers,  the  woman  and  her  friends, 
including,  perhaps,  the  husband)  who  get  possession  of  the  vic- 
tim's money.  It  is,  however,  a  surprising  term  in  this  connection 
(the  general  reference  being  simply  to  the  fact  that  the  man  loses 
his  property),  and  seems  to  be  scribal  error  for  the  word  meaning 
alien  (as  the  Targ.  has  it).  The  quatrain  appears  to  give  a  com- 
plete double  set  of  synonyms,  four  words  signifying  "  wealth,"  and 
four  signifying  "  other  persons."  —  In  any  case  the  penalty  pre- 
dicted for  the  debauchee  is  loss  of  worldly  wealth,  as,  on  the  other 
hand,  riches  is  the  reward  of  the  wise  (3^"  8^*).    The  reference  (cf. 


V.  7-13  109 

v.'^)  cannot  be  to  the  punishment  of  death  for  adulterers  ordained 
in  the  Israehtish  law  (Ez.  16''"  Lev.  20^"),  since  there  is  here  no 
hint  of  such  a  fatal  ending  or  of  legal  procedure  (cf.  note  on  v.'*), 
but  the  intimation  is  that  the  punishment,  loss  of  wealth,  comes 
from  ordinary  social  causes.  Still  less  is  it  meant  that  the  offender 
may  be  emasculated  and  become  the  slave  of  the  injured  husband 
(Ew.)  ;  no  such  provision  exists  in  the  OT.  law.  It  is  simply 
that  the  licentious  man,  careless  and  prodigal,  is  preyed  on  by 
others  (chiefly  the  woman  and  her  husband  and  lovers),  and  thus 
sacrifices  his  years  to  aliens.  This  is  the  sting  of  his  doom,  that 
his  toil  goes  to  build  up  not  his  own  house  but  another's,  and  his 
life  thus  becomes  a  failure.  The  point  of  view  is  external  —  there 
is  no  reference  to  corruption  of  soul ;  that  is  no  doubt  assumed, 
but  the  moralist  uses  what  he  thinks  the  most  effective  deterrent 
argument,  the  social  destructiveness  of  the  vice  in  question. 

11-14.  The  man's  lamentation  over  his  broken  life.  — 11.  Pro- 
gressive, binary-ternary.  At  last  (lit.  in  thy  aftertime  or  at  thy 
end)  —  when  the  results  of  thy  action  show  themselves  ;  the  refer- 
ence may  be  to  the  period  immediately  succeeding  the  loss  of 
wealth  or  to  the  end  of  life.  Body  and  flesh  ( =  the  being,  per- 
sonality) are  consumed,  worn  out,  the  allusion  being  not  to  the 
physical  results  of  sexual  indulgence  (the  point  is  not  excess,  but 
illegahty  and  immorality),  but  to  the  loss  of  social  position  and 
power,  in  general  to  the  failure  of  the  man's  life.  The  picture  is 
identical  in  substance  with  that  of  v."-  ^",  loss  of  wealth  involving  or 
expressing  loss  of  all  that  makes  life  enjoyable.  —  Grk.  :  and  thou 
repent  at  last  when  the  flesh  0/  thy  body  is  consumed,  a  reading  which 
represents  sHght  modifications  of  our  Heb.  text :  groan,  mourn, 
repent  are  practically  equivalent,  groan  being  the  strongest ;  the 
rhetorical  repetition  body  and  flesh  is  more  effective  than  the  pre- 
cxs^x  flesh  of  body.  — 12,  13.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit.  my  heart 
{—  myself)  has  despised  {y}~),  and  lent  (lit.  inclined)  mine  ear  to 
mine  instructors  (v.^^).  The  Heb.  prefixes  how  to  the  whole  quat- 
rain, the  sense  being  :  hoiv  have  I  hated  .  .  .  despised  .  .  .  how 
have  I  not  listened  .  .  .  and  not  inclined .',  an  awkward  form  of 
expression  in  English  (RV.  has  an  ungrammatical  sentence  in 
V.'-'',  and  drops  the  how  in  v.^^).     Heb.  employs  this  how  as  in- 


no  PROVERBS 

troduction  to  laments  (2  Sam.  i^  Zeph.  2^^  Ez.  26^'^  Isa.  14'*  i-^ 
Lam.  i'  2'  Jer.  48'")  with  the  sense  lunv  lamentable  the  case .',  here 
how  foolish  I  was  .',  a  meaning  which  is  expressed  by  alas  !  In- 
stead of  the  Perf.  liave  hated,  etc.,  we  may  render  by  the  Pret. 
I  hated,  etc.  On  instruction  and  guidance  see  notes  on  i--^  — 
The  sage  here  reaches  the  gist  of  his  discourse  —  obedience  to 
instruction  would  have  saved  the  man  from  this  unhappy  fate. 
The  teachers  are  wise  men,  fathers  of  families  and  heads  of 
schools.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  book,  it  seems  to  be  assumed 
that  more  or  less  organized  schemes  of  moral  instruction  for  young 
men  existed  —  incipient  universities  such  as  appear  in  the  second 
century  b.c.  — 14.  Progressive,  ternary.  Lit. :  had  wellnigh  fallen 
into  all  evil.  If  the  evil  be  moral,  the  congregation  (or,  assembly^ 
is  the  crowd  of  bad  companions  who  lead  the  man  astray,  or  the 
community  which  witnesses  his  downfall;  but  this  interpretation 
does  not  agree  with  the  connection  —  he  declares  (v.^^-  ^^)  not  that 
he  came  near  descending,  but  that  he  did  descend  into  the  depths 
of  moral  evil,  and  he  reflects  that  he  has  barely  escaped  some- 
thing else,  namely,  crushing  suffering.  This  sense  of  the  term 
^2^// occurs  in  13^"  1/'  10''  27^ ;  here  it  appears  to  mean  official  pun- 
ishment. Congregation  and  assembly  (synonymous  terms)  signify 
first  any  mass  of  persons  gathered  together,  and  then  particularly 
a  community  (sometimes  the  whole  body  of  Israelites)  in  organ- 
ized political  or  judicial  form,  here  the  official  gathering  of  the 
man's  community  to  take  cognizance  of  offences  against  law.  In 
the  early  time  every  Israehtish  community  appears  to  have  exer- 
cised judicial  and  executive  powers  (Dt.  \f  21  Lev.  24^''.)  In 
the  Roman  times  also  the  Jewish  communities  all  over  the  empire 
seem  to  have  had  the  right  of  jurisdiction  over  their  members,  and 
this  was  probably  the  case  in  the  Grk.  period  in  Palestine  and 
Egypt.*  The  adulterer  might,  perhaps,  have  been  sentenced  to 
death  (but  see  notes  on  6^'*^)  ;  he  sees  that  he  came  near  losing 
his  life  or  suffering  some  other  overwhelming  punishment ;  cf.  Ben- 
Sira  23^^  It  is  obvious  that  the  point  here  is  different  from  that 
of  v.**-  ^°,  and  that  in  v.^  also  the  reference  is  general,  not  particu- 
larly to  legal  punishment.  The  stress  here  laid  on  the  verdict  of 
the  community  is  to  be  noted. 

*  Cf.  Schiirer,  Jewish  People,  2,  2,  ^  31. 


V.   13-14  III 

7.  |§  D^32;  (3  w^;  read  ■<:2,  as  in  v.'- ^"^  and  make  the  vbs.  sing. — 
8.  p?  .!■''?;•?;;  (5  cltt'  aur^s;  Bi.  unnecessarily  njar.  —  ^J  nnn  and  nij  written 
by  (5  (in  several  different  forms)  plu.,  by  Heb.  or  Grk.  scribal  inadvertence. 
—  9.  |§  "ii^;  S9C  ^^n;  (g  fwTji',  which  may  perh.  represent  in  taken  (like  nbs, 
see  Dillm.'s  note  on  Gen.  49'',  Geiger,  Urschrift,  p.  319)  as  =  jo?//  (Lag.),  but 
more  probably  is  rendering  of  "n,  which  is  favored  by  the  parallel  r.yv,  (@  ^lov; 
Oort  |in,  which  Gr.  regards  as  the  Heb.  text  of  ^  (cf.  Pink.),  and  it  should 
probably  here  be  read  instead  of  J^  in.  —  ^  n'sx,  emend  to  iidj;  (5  dceXe- 
Tjixoffiv  (and  so  SIL)  ;  ST  here  and  il^'^  psiDU  (=  Heb.  '13J),  regarded  by  Vog, 
as  scribal  error  for  ]^NitDX,  by  Baumg.  for  xnrsj  (so  17^^);  the  connection 
favors  2C.  — 10.  |^  ]D  (lacking  in  (5'^  ^^S)  jg  omitted  by  Lag.  as  bad  Heb., 
since  the  force  of  the  part,  in  v.^  may  extend  through  v.^'';  but  such  repetition 
is  rhetorically  permissible. — The  Vrss.  properly  supply  a  vb.  \xi^;  |^  is  poeti- 
cally concise.  With  use  of  pd  as  —  -wealth  cf.  similar  use  of  S^n.  — 11.  |^  nnnj; 
(5  (followed  by  ^),  not  so  well,  ii.iTa.p.i\y]Qi](jrj,  =  r^r^ryi.  —  |^  -|nnnN3;  Clem., 
Strom.  122,  ^7ri  y-qpus  (and  so  &),  regarded  by  Lag.  as  the  genuine  text  of  (g, 
€ir'  eo-xaT-ojv  being  revision.  — The  aapKes  (Tdfiarbi  ctov  of  (@  (adopted  by  Bi.) 
is  rhetorically  not  so  good  as  |§.  Geiger,  Urschrift,  p.  418,  supposes  that  the 
original  text  had  nSj  instead  of  n??.  —  12.  The  diff.  between  "^  rn^in  and 
(§  ^X^7xoDs  is  one  of  pointing  (in  6^''  |^  has  plu.  and  (5  sing.),  and  there  is 
little  choice  between  them.  (g^s.  252. 297  Constitt.  9^  Arab,  but  not  Aeth.  (Lag.), 
add  diKaicjv,  an  addition  natural  but  not  found  elsewhere.  —  13.  In  nSi  omit  1, 
with  (@.  Instead  of  '?ip3  a  number  of  MSS.  have  Sip*^,  which  is  perh.  better. — 
Lag.  points  out  that  the  reading  of  (§^  "'•  Trai5evovT6s  /xe  Kal  8(.ddiTKovT6s  /xe  is 
the  original  Grk.  (though  not  the  translation  of  the  original  Heb.),  and  that 
of  (§23  aj.^  conformed  to  the  Heb.,  a  correction.  —  14.  |^  iDVca;  (3  Trap'  oXiyov; 
A  wj  oXLyov;  Schol.  iv  ^paxurd-rt^;  IL pene ;  <S2E  '^'''^0  li'  wholly;  Gr.  emends 
to  Dsoj  despised.  —  S2C  jii-o  takes  yi  as  plural. 

15-20.  Exhortation  (couched  in  erotic  terms)  to  avoid  har- 
lotry and  observe  conjugal  fidelity.  The  sacredness  and  social 
value  of  the  family  are  imphed.  It  is  assumed  that  men  are  mar- 
ried, and  the  exhortation  indicates  that  conjugal  infidehty  was  a 
crying  evil  of  the  time.  The  paragraph  consists  of  two  parts,  the 
first  (v.^^^')  figurative,  the  second  (v.^^^)  the  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  the  first.  The  terms  cistern,  waters,  etc.,  are  used  figura- 
tively, but  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  wife,  as  =  wisdom, 
etc.,  is  excluded  by  the  connection. 

15.  Drink  water  from  thine  own  cistern, 
Running  water  from  thine  own  well. 

16.  Should  thy  springs  be  scattered  abroad? 
Thy  streams  of  water  in  the  streets? 


112  PROVERBS 

17.  Let  them  be  for  thyself  alone, 
And  not  for  others  with  thee. 

18.  Let  thy  fountain  be  <  thine  own,'  * 

Get  thou  joy  from  the  wife  of  thy  youth; 

19.  []  Let  her  breasts  intoxicate  thee  always,! 
Be  thou  ever  ravished  with  her  love. 

20.  Why  shouldest  thou  []  J  be  ravished  with  a  stranger, 
Embrace  the  bosom  of  another  woman? 

15.  Synonymous,  binary-ternary.  The  cistern  is  a  receptacle 
(often  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  Jer.  2^'')  into  which  water  falls  or 
flows  from  without  and  in  which  it  remains  motionless ;  in  the 
well  (Nu.  2i^''-^'-)  the  water  rises  from  beneath  and  has  movement, 
life  (so  here  running  water  is  not  spoken  of  in  connection  with 
the  cistern') ;  the  two  terms  are  rhetorical  variations  of  expression 
for  a  supply  of  drinking-water.  The  figure  appears  to  be  a  general 
one  :  let  thy  own  wife  be  thy  source  of  enjoyment,  as  refreshing 
as  water  to  a  thirsty  man.  The  enjoyment  meant  is  sensual,  but 
there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  comparison  of  the  female  form  to  a 
cistern  or  well,  or  a  designation  of  the  wife  as  the  source  of  chil- 
dren (cf.  Ex.  21'",  Koran  2--^)  ;  there  is  no  reference  to  children 
in  the  paragraph.  The  basis  of  the  figure  is  given  in  Isa.  36^*' 
where  drinking  from  one's  (literal)  cistern  is  the  symbol  of  enjoy- 
ment of  one's  home.  The  general  idea  of  origin  is  expressed  in 
Isa.  51^ :  Abraham  is  the  rock  whence  was  hewn  the  stone  for  the 
building  of  the  nation,  Sarah  the  rock-pit  (the  same  word  that  is 
here  used  for  cistern)  whence  the  nation  was  dug;  in  this  there 
seems  to  be  no  pictorial  allusion  to  the  mother's  womb  —  father 
and  mother  are  spoken  of  in  the  same  way.  In  Eccl.  1 2^  also 
cistern  stands  in  a  general  way  for  life.  §  A  close  approach  to  the 
wording  of  our  verse  is  found  in  Cant.  4'^,  in  which  the  heroine  is 
called  a  garden-fountain,  a  well  of  living  water,  of  streams  from 
Lebanon  (and  cf.  v.^^),  that  is,  a  source  of  refreshing  and  enjoy- 

*  Heb. :  blessed. 

t  On  the  omission  of  first  line  of  v.i9  see  note  on  this  verse  below. 

X  Heb.  inserts  my  son. 

f  In  Eccl.  12^  the  emendation  cistern  (^\^2)  or  well  (tx3),  =wi/e,  instead  of 
creator  (n'IID),  is  not  favored  by  the  connection,  and  is,  on  rhetorical  grounds, 
extremely  difficult  if  not  impossible;  probably  ii^ub.  i^Xa  is  orthodox  scribal 
msertion. 


V.  15-17  113 

ment  (the  similarity  of  expressions  in  Pr.  and  Cant.,  here  and 
elsewhere,  suggests  that  one  of  these  books  drew  from  the  other). 
—  Grk.,  by  a  slight  change  of  text,  has  drink  7aaters  out  of  thine 
own  vessels  (dyyetwi/),  and  in  NT.  (i  Th.  4*  i  Pet.  3^)  vessel 
{(rKevo<;)  =  lijife ;  the  latter  term  represents  the  body  as  the  locus 
or  instrument  of  the  soul  or  of  service,  and  often  ^person,  but 
the  Grk.  term  here  means  drinking-vessels.  —  Our  Heb.  text  in- 
troduces the  wife  not  as  child-bearer,  but  as  source  of  pleasure. 
For  the  general  figure  cf.  BS.  26^".  — 16.  Synonymous,  ternary- 
binary.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  infidelity  here  referred  to  is 
that  of  the  husband  or  that  of  the  wife.  The  connection  clearly 
favors  the  former  interpretation ;  the  reference  in  v.^"  and  in  v.'*"^" 
is  obviously  to  the  man,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  discourse 
would  be  interrupted  by  the  introduction  of  a  topic  which  is  men- 
tioned nowhere  else  in  the  chapter ;  and  v.-°,  further,  appears  to 
give  the  literal  meaning  of  v.^^- ''',  as  v.'*  gives  that  of  v.'^  The 
sense  is  :  seek  not  thy  pleasure  in  the  streets  (from  harlots,  see 
7^-),  from  all  sorts  of  sources  {scattered  abroad).  Springs  and 
streams  symbolize  sources  of  enjoyment,  and  particularly  such  as 
are  commonly  outside  of  one's  house-land  ;  while  cistern  and  well, 
\}^  (also  sources  of  enjoyment)  are  properly  attached  to  the 
house.  —  The  interrogative  form  (which  may  be  rendered  by  a 
negative),  though  not  given  in  the  Heb.,  is  permissible,  and  is 
demanded  by  the  connection.  The  declarative  or  the  jussive  form 
(ythy  streams  will  be  [or,  let  thy  streains  be]  spread  abroad) ,  adopted 
by  a  number  of  expositors  (from  Aquila  and  Saadia  on),  is  held 
to  mean  "  thou  shalt  have  numerous  descendants"  (Schult.),  or 
"  let  thy  generative  power  act  freely  within  the  marriage- relation  " 
(De.);  but  these  interpretations  are  not  favored  by  the  context. 
The  terms  springs,  etc.,  cannot  naturally  be  taken  to  mean  "  gen- 
erative power"  (Ew.,  De.,  al) ;  the  connection  shows  that  they 
signify  "sources  of  pleasure"  (here  sensual  pleasure).  —  Those 
who  make  the  woman  the  subject  interpret :  "  let  not  thy  wife 
stray  abroad  "  (as  a  result  of  thy  infidelity).  —  Grk. :  let  not  thy 
waters  overfloiv,  etc.  (the  negative  is  involved  in  the  interrogative 
form).  —  Others  :  "do  not  squander  thy  virile  strength,"  which  is 
correct  in  general  sense  (see  above),  but  incorrect  in  form. — 
17.    Synonymous,  ternary,  or  binary.     Repetition  of  the  exhorta- 


114  PROVERBS 

tion  of  v.'^,  =  "  let  thy  pleasures  belong  to  thyself  alone  (that  is, 
be  derived  from  thine  own  wife),  and  not  be  shared  with  others 
(as  they  must  be,  if  thou  consort  with  harlots)."  —  On  the  less 
probable  interpretation  :  "  let  thy  wife  be  for  thee  alone,  and  not 
for  others  with  thee"  (=  let  not  thy  wife  become  a  harlot)  see 
note  on  preceding  verse.  — 18-20.  This  group  repeats  and  inter- 
prets the  exhortation  of  the  preceding  in  literal  terms  —  the  erotic 
expressions  (cf.  Canticles)  are  partly  explained  by  the  fact  that 
women  did  not  in  ancient  times  form  part  of  the  audiences  ad- 
dressed by  men,  or  of  the  public  for  which  books  were  written.* 
—  18.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Fountahi,  parallel  to  water,  springs, 
rivers  of  v.^^'  ^'',  is  explained  in  second  cl.  as  =  wife,  as  source  of 
physical  pleasure.  The  Heb.  reads  :  let  thy  fountain  be  blessed. 
The  "  fountain  "  may  be  regarded  as  blessed  when  it  is  enjoyed 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  that  is,  in  the  mar- 
riage-relation, in  contrast  with  the  pleasures  of  illicit  love ;  as 
appears  from  the  connection,  there  is  no  reference  to  the  blessed- 
ness of  children  born  in  wedlock  —  the  wife  is  viewed  not  as  child- 
bearer  but  as  pleasure-giver.  The  term  blessed  is,  however,  not 
what  we  should  expect ;  the  section  contrasts  the  wife  as  one's 
own  with  the  harlot  as  stranger,  and  there  is  probability  in  the 
Grk.  reading  let  thy  fountain  be  thine  ozun  or  for  thee  alone 
(which  represents  a  slight  modification  of  our  Heb.  text)  (cf. 
v.^'').  The  fountain  of  Lev.  12"  20^*  refers  to  the  blood  of  child- 
birth and  menses  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  our  passage.  The 
Joy  of  second  cl.,  as  appears  from  the  following  context,  is  sen- 
sual.—  Among  ancient  peoples  marriage  was  considered  a  duty, 
and  early  marriage  appears  to  have  been  the  general  custom ; 
such  a  custom  is  assumed  in  the  expression  wife  of  thy  youth,  and 
the  writer  probably  had  in  mind  its  value  as  a  guard  against 
debauchery.  It  has  been  suggested  f  that  the  astonishing  vitality 
of  the  Jews  is  due  in  part  to  their  maintenance  of  early  marriage 
(a  custom  which  they  have  always  kept  up  except  when,  as  now  to 
some  extent,  they  have  fallen  into  the  habits  of  other  peoples). — 
19.  Synonymous,  ternary  (the  first  line  of  the  Heb.  being  omitted) . 


*  Cf.  the  Idyls  of  Theoc,  Bion,  Moschus. 

t  For  ex.,  by  Leroy-Beaulieu,  Israel  chez  les  nations,  Ch.  VII. 


V.  I7-20  115 

Expansion  of  second  line  of  v.^'^  As  first  line  of  v.'"  the  Heb. 
has:  Lovely  hind,  charming  luiU  goat  —  an  expression  which,  if 
it  be  retained,  must  be  regarded  as  a  parenthetical  exclamation, 
whether  it  be  attached  to  this  verse  or  to  the  preceding;  but  it 
interrupts  the  discourse  and  destroys  the  distichal  form,  and  is 
doubtless  the  insertion  of  a  scribe,  a  gloss  on  wife.  Bickell,  insert- 
ing one  word,  writes  the  verse  as  a  quatrain  :  Lovely  hind,  charm- 
ing wild  goat,  Let  her  breasts  intoxicate  thee,  Let  her  always  make 
thee  quiver,  Be  ever  ravished  with  her  love  ;  but  the  inserted  word 
is  doubtful  and  improbable.  —  The  hind  is  some  variety  of  deer 
(Dt.  12^^),  probably  red  or  fallow.  The  wild  goat  (i  Sam.  24^^^^ 
Job  39'  \l/  104'-),  an  inhabitant  of  the  rocks,  is  gray  in  color,  and 
of  great  agility  and  grace ;  it  is  said  to  be  still  found  at  Engedi, 
where  David's  men  may  have  hunted  it;  the  renderings  roe  (RV.) 
and  gazelle  (Strack,  Kamph.,  al.)  are  hardly  allowable.*  This  is 
the  only  place  in  OT.  where  a  woman  is  compared  to  an  animal  as 
type  of  beauty  (Cant.  4^-^-^  are  not  properly  exceptions),  though 
such  comparisons  for  men  are  not  rare.  —  A  change  in  the  vowels 
of  the  Heb.  gives  in  first  Hne  love  instead  of  breasts,  but  the  latter 
reading  is  favored  by  the  bosom  of  v.^".  — The  Targum  interprets 
the  wife  as  =  the  latv :  tuisdom  learn  thou  always,  and  to  love  of 
it  ever  strenuously  apply  thyself.  —  20.  Synonymous,  ternary.  This 
verse  is  naturally  taken  in  connection  with  the  preceding  exhor- 
tation. The  question  is  asked  :  why  seek  another  woman  ?  the 
answer  expected  is  :  there  is  no  reason  for  so  doing,  seeing  thy 
wife  is  sufficient;  the  appeal  is  based  on  the  foregoing  section. 
If  the  verse  be  connected  with  what  follows,  it  should  be  ren- 
dered :  why  wilt  thou  be  ravished  with  (or,  fascinated  by'),  etc.?, 
that  is,  seeing  thou  wilt  certainly  be  punished  for  such  conduct 
(v.'\  but  see  note  on  that  verse  below).  —  The  address  my  son  in 
the  Heb.  is  rhythmically  hard,  is  not  found  in  the  Grk.,  and  is  bet- 
ter omitted.  —  With  this  section  cf  BS.  9^"^.  The  sage  of  Prov. 
combating  a  particular  vice,  here  treats  the  wife  not  as  intellectual 
companion  of  the  husband  or  as  mother  of  the  family,  but  as  sat- 
isfaction of  bodily  desire  —  he  sets  lawful  over  against  unlawful 
passion ;  but,  of  course,  it  is  not  thence  to  be  inferred  that  the 

*  See  Tristram,  Fauna,  etc.,  in  Survey  of  West.  Pal. 


1 1 6  PROVERBS 

teachers  of  the  time  did  not  take  the  higher  view  of  the  marriage- 
relation  ;  cf.  3i"^3i^  Bs_  2(31-3. 13. 14  3523(2.8)^ 

21-23.  General  concluding  reflection,  similar  to  what  is  found 
at  the  end  of  chs.  i.  2.  3,  without  special  bearing  on  the  body 
of  the  chapter,  perhaps  the  addition  of  the  final  editor. 

21.  For  the  ways  of  a  man  are  before  the  eyes  of  Yahweh, 
And  he  weighs  all  his  paths. 

22.  His  iniquities  shall  catch  him  [],* 

And  in  the  net  of  his  sins  he  shall  be  taken. 

23.  He  shall  die  for  lack  of  instruction, 

And  <  perish  >  f  through  the  greatness  of  his  folly. 

21.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  universal  supervision  of  God  is 
cited  as  a  general  reason  for  carefulness  in  conduct ;  the  principle 
applies  to  all  men,  not  especially  to  adulterers.  In  second  cl.  the 
parallelism  favors  the  rendering  weighs  —  God  has  his  eye  on, 
estimates  and  judges  human  actions  (Grk.  obsei-ves,  Targ.,  Syr.,  all 
his  ways  are  Jincovered before  him).  We  may  also  translate  makes 
plane  (see  note  on  4-'^),  understanding  this  expression  to  mean 
arrajjges,  makes  possible,  that  is,  God  so  ordains  life  that  the  bad 
man  may  run  his  course  and  meet  his  punishment,  man  is  free 
(De.,  Now.,  Str.)  ;  but  here,  as  in  i^^-^-^  it  seems  to  be  the 
judgment  of  God  rather  than  the  freedom  of  man  that  the  writer 
has  in  view.  The  way  in  which  the  divine  government  shows 
itself  is  explained  in  the  following  verses.  —  Such  must  be  the 
course  of  thought  if  the  present  text  be  correct.  But  the  connec- 
tion between  v.-^  and  the  following  verses  is  not  clear.  V.^^ 
regards  all  men,  good  and  bad,  v."-  ^^  regard  bad  men  only.  The 
insertion  of  the  words  the  wicked,  in  wP,  appears  to  show  that  the 
reference  in  the  ///;;/  was  thought  to  need  explanation  ;  and  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that,  when  the  verse  was  written,  the  reference 
was  clear,  that  is,  that  the  antecedent  of  hijn  had  been  expressed. 
The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  his  in  first  line  of  v.^^  —  it  has  now 
no  expressed  antecedent.  It  follows  either  that  v.^^  originally 
referred  to  the  7vicked  (a  supposition  with  which  the  general  verb 
weigh  does  not  agree),  or  that  some  passage  (perhaps  a  couplet) 

*  Heb.  inserts  the  wicked.  f  Heb. :  go  astray. 


V.    21-23  117 

referring  to  the  "wicked  "  has  fallen  out,  or  that  v.-^  is  the  inser- 
tion of  an  editor.  The  last  construction  would  still  require  a 
modification  of  v."  (see  note  on  this  verse  below).  —  22.  Synon- 
ymous, binary-ternary  "(in  the  emended  form  of  the  couplet). 
In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  shall  catch  him,  the  wicked,  in  which  both 
objects  cannot  be  original,  and  it  is  more  probable  that  the 
explicit  term  the  wicked  is  an  old  scribal  explanation  (found  in 
Targ.,  Syr.,  Lat.,  but  not  in  Grk.).  The  rendering  (obtained  by 
changing  the  text)  his  oivn  iniquities  shall  catch  the  wicked  is  pos- 
sible but  syntactically  hard.  Possibly  we  should  read  :  the  wicked 
shall  be  caught  in  his  iniquities,  or,  less  probably  (with  Grk.)  : 
iniquities  shall  catch  a  man.  —  The  figure  is  that  of  an  animal 
caught  in  a  net,  the  man  is  caught  in  his  own  wrongdoings  (the 
plu.  sins  is  given  in  most  of  the  Anc.  Vrss.).  This  is  the  dispen- 
sation of  God,  and  it  is  implied  that  it  is  also  the  natural  course 
of  things.  Net  is  literally  strings  or  threads.  —  23.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  thought  is  that  of  i''"-^^  —  sin  is  the  result  of  lack  of 
instruction,  of  the  guidance  of  divine  wisdom  as  given  particularly 
in  the  teaching  of  the  sages ;  see  the  preceding  sections  passitn. 
Further,  death  is  the  outcome  of  sin,  see  i^",  etc.  The  parallel- 
ism, with  comparison  also  of  such  couplets  as  i^^,  seems  to  require 
the  sense  perish  in  second  cl.  (so  one  reading  of  the  Grk.).  The 
Heb.  has  go  astray,  an  expression  so  weak  alongside  of  the  die  of 
first  cl.  that  those  who  retain  it  have  to  interpret  it  as  =  stagger  or 
fall  into  the  grave  or  into  utter  ruin  (Noyes,  Reuss,  De.,  al.'),  a 
sense  which  the  Heb.  verb  nowhere  else  has,  or  wander  from  the 
path  of  life  (Wild.),  for  which  pregnant  sense  there  is  no  author- 
ity. —  V.^^'-^,  as  regards  the  idea,  constitute  a  separate  paragraph, 
which,  however,  does  not  give  the  expected  quatrain-form ;  some 
critics,  therefore,  attach  v.^^  to  v.^"  (with  which  it  is  not  logically 
connected).  The  chapter,  as  it  stands,  has  an  uneven  number  of 
couplets,  and,  consequently,  at  least  one  defective  quatrain.  This 
defect  may  be  removed  by  changes  of  text,  as  by  the  omission  of 
a  couplet  (<?._§■.  v.^  or  v.'  or  v.-^),  or  by  the  expansion  of  one  couplet 
into  two  (see  note  on  v.'^).  Failing  a  satisfactory  emendation  of 
this  sort,  we  have  to  accept  a  formal  irregularity  in  this  chapter, 
with  the  possibility  that  the  writer  allowed  himself  a  certain 
license  in  the  construction  of  quatrains  and  paragraphs. 


Il8  PROVERBS 

15.  ^3;  as  f^,  and  so  IL  in  »;  in  ^  (g,  followed  by  1L,  substantially  =  |§.  — 
|§  "lO;  (§  dyyeiwi',  which  may  be  free  rendering  of  pj,  giving  the  sense 
drink  from  thy  drinking-vessel,  or  may  represent  D  r,  hardly  = ''^D  (Heid.), 
which  would  be  graphically  hard;  Lag.  refers  (@  t-o  Syr.  -.ir,  graphically  easy, 
and  in  Geopon.  23^*  «/.  =  ayitXov  (and  cf.  Payne-Smith,  Thes.,  Syr.');  the 
usual  sense  of  the  Aram,  word  is  Inve  (of  bees),  but  Jewish  Aram,  mu  occurs 
with  the  more  general  meaning  box,  pot  (see  the  references  in  Buxt.,  Levy, 
Jastrow).  —  16.  Of  (@  MSS.  B  alone  inserts  m'?  before  the  vb.  in  ^;  the  sense 
thus  obtained  is  correct,  but  the  insertion  of  the  neg.  in  |^  is  unnecessary  (see 
note  on  v.'^  above).  Whether  \j.t]  belongs  to  the  Grk.  original  is  doubtful; 
Lag.  thinks  that  ^xy)  inrepeKxeiffdu  represents  a  single  Heb.  word  (a  view  not 
supported  by  the  ovk  epeiderai  of  v.^). — The  insertion  of  vSara  in  ^  was  made 
necessary  by  the  reading  of  c  in  "i\"ij';'d  as  prep. ;  in  ^  •'j'^s  was  understood 
as  vb. — 18.  1^  1113;  (3  i5la  (whence  Chrys.  v.  gSal.  fj^dvip),  probably  =  -\-\2h 
(Vog.),  as  in  v.^'^,  after  which  |§  should  probably  be  emended;  Heid.  improb- 
ably T'''3,  out  of  TI13;  Bi.  emends  |^  to  "17b,  after  v.^^;  Oort  thinks  it  probable 
that  the  Grk.  transl.  read  Tiii  {/et  thy  fouiitain  be  thy  cistern)  and  gave  a  free 
rendering;  Oort's  own  reading  i^b  beneficent  hardly  suits  the  idea  of  the  para- 
graph, in  which  the  soleness  of  the  wife  is  the  theme.  —  |^  ''^ir':>'">  fo"^  which 
12  Heb.  codd.  and  one  cod.  of  91  (De'  Rossi)  have  wd,  (@  p-trh.  and  so  S>1L 
Arab.,  the  commoner  construction,  and  possibly  the  right  reading  here  and 
elsewhere  (Eccl.  2}^  2  C.  2o2'') ;  Midr.  Mishle  has  c,  Shohar  Tab  1  .'— 
19.  ^n"|  is  the  reading  of  the  Occident,  recension,  and  the  Q  of  the  Orient., 
which  as  K.  has  imii  (Ginsb.).  For  njrn  3  codd.  of  De'  Rossi  have  njirn 
increase,  prob.  scribal  error.  The  Vrss.  find  difficulty  in  construction  and 
sense.  (5  fills  out  "^  with  o/xiXelru}  aoi,  in  ^  has  t'St'a  (-[laS?)  for  nn^,  and  r)yei- 
adui  (no^?)  and  avvicTTU}  (u'"'^?)  for  i']"'  (Lag.)  (but  these  terms  may  be 
merely  allegorizing  paraphrases),  in  •=  renders  i^cn  by  ttoXXoo-tos  eVrj.  ^ 
writes  nnmiN  in  '',  either  allegorizing  or  reading  ni3-n  for  niTi.  3C  allegorizes 
throughout;  only  AS  (and  doubtless  9)  %  Arab,  follow  |^  literally.  Bi.,  tak- 
ing avviarw  (tol  as  =  i"?  yiP,  inserts  ri^inn  before  p;;  '^22,  thus  gaining  an 
additional  line,  parallel  to  the  "=  of  |^,  an  attractive  emendation  if  the  sense 
required  (^intoxicate)  could  be  shown  to  belong  to  Hif.  of  '^yi ;  see  note  on 
this  verse  above.  The  text  of  |^  is  to  be  retained  in  b<',  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  *  formed  part  of  the  original  Heb.;  see  n.  on  this  v.  above.  The 
emendation  nm  for  r^^'^i  (Hitz.,  al.)  is  not  necessary;  cf.  Geiger,  Urschrift, 
397  ff.  —  20.  pj  rxycr,  in  3  codd.  'rr;  (5  ttoXi/s,  =  Aram,  nju'n ;  cf.  BS.  9*. 
2r  JJTi'n  lead  astray,  Si  N^an  go  astray.  —  pn  is  omitted  in  B-D  by  typo- 
graphical error.  —  21.  Nin  should  be  inserted  4Defore  d'^dd.  —  22.  Omit  ns 
yiinn  as  scribal  explicitum,  with  (S;  the  termination  of  the  vb.  ''71  is  f_,  not 
1J-.  —  (5  dvdpa,  whence  Bi.  u\sn,  which  is  not  probable;  dvdpa  seems  to  be 
merely  explicit  expression  of  the  Heb.  suffix.  Possibly  we  should  read :  'r'j2 
i;z'-\n  -idSi  (cf.  6^  11^  Eccl.  7^6).  —  23.  Nin,  supported  by  the  Vrss.,  gives  un- 
necessary emphasis,  and  has  perh.  got  into  this  place  by  scribal  transposition 
from  v.^'.  —  (§  fxera  dTraLdevTwu,  perh.  error  for  5ta  dTraidevaiaw,  as  2  has  it. — 


VI.  iig 

pj  rtrc'\  weak  and  inappropriate,  perh.  scrilial  repetition  from  v.-''  —  we  expect 
a  vb.  like  nnir  or  -i3X  or  better  yr,  which  occurs  along  with  pi;:  in  Job  3I1  4I'; 
the  change  of  yiJi  into  nj^"  is  graphically  not  very  difficult.  (§  ei^epicprj  perh. 
=  ■i'?!^"!  or  ifir.  tor  its  /Siottjtos  (which  stands  in  the  place  of  Ti'i'in)  Schl. 
suggests  ■fj\i6L6T7]T OS.  @  adds  the  line  /cai  dwibXero  di  acppoavv-qv,  which 
Jager,  Baumg.,  take  as  rendering  of  %  Schl.,  Lag.,  more  probably  as  rend,  of  ^ 
(Schl.  writes  5ia  iroWrjv  avroO  dcpp.),  and  the  vb.  air.  sustains  the  change 
of  text  above  proposed. 

VI.  The  second  half  of  the  chapter  (v."""''^)  is  a  discourse 
against  adultery,  similar  to  that  of  ch.  5.  —  The  first  half  consists 
of  four  short  sections  wholly  different  in  style  from  the  rest  of  this 
Division  (chs.  1-9)  ;  while  the  other  discourses  are  general 
praises  of  wisdom,  or  warnings  against  robbery  and  debauchery, 
conceived  in  a  broad  and  solemn  way,  these  are  homely  warn- 
ings against  petty  vices,  with  one  arithmetical  enumeration  of 
sins.  V.^"^ :  against  going  security  for  others ;  v.^" :  against 
sloth ;  v.^"^^ :  against  mischief-making  ;  v.^'^^'^ :  against  seven  sins. 
In  tone  these  closely  resemble  2  2''-24^^  and  30'^""^  with  which 
they  obviously  belong.  Since  they  interrupt  the  course  of  thought 
in  chs.  1-9,  it  is  not  hkely  that  they  were  here  inserted  by  the 
author  of  this  Division  ;  they  were  probably  misplaced  by  an  editor 
or  scribe,  and  at  an  early  period,  since  they  occur  here  in  all  the 
Ancient  Versions.  The  metrical  unit  is  the  couplet,  most  of  the  lines 
being  ternary  ;  a  division  into  quatrains  is  not  always  recognizable. 

1-5.  In  eager,  semi-humorous  fashion  men  are  cautioned 
against  pledging  themselves  pecuniarily  for  others  —  a  thrifty,  self- 
regarding,  prudent  injunction,  sound  from  the  point  of  view  of 
social-economic  justice  and  kindness,  though  the  author  would 
probably  not  deny  that  there  are  times  when  such  prudential 
maxims  must  be  thrown  to  the  winds.  Cf.  11'^  17'**  20'*'  22-''  27'^, 
BS.  29'^-'^;  in  favor  of  suretyship  is  BS.  29'^'^  Commercial  lend- 
ing is  to  be  distinguished  from  lending  to  the  poor  and  unfortu- 
nate (Ex.  2  2^'^'''*'  xp  37'"),  though  borrowing  is  regarded  in  22''  as  a 

misfortune. 

1.  If,  my  son,  thou  hast  become  surety  for  thy  fellow, 
Hast  pledged  thyself  for  another, 

2.  Hast  snared  thyself  by  thine  own  <  lips,'  * 
Trapped  thyself  by  the  words  of  thy  mouth, 

*  Heb. :  t/ie  words  of  thy  mouth. 


I20  TROVERBS 

3.  Then  do  this,  my  son  []  *  — 

For  thou  art  come  into  thy  fellow's  power  — 
Go  in  hot  haste, 
And  beset  thy  fellow, 

4.  Give  not  sleep  to  thine  eyes 
Nor  slumber  to  thine  eyelids, 

5.  Free  thyself  as  a  gazelle  from  the  <  snaie,'  t 
And  as  a  bird  from  the  hand  of  the  fowler. 

1,  2.  Synonymous,  v.'  ternary,  v."  (as  emended)  binary.  The 
earnest,  eager  tone  suggests  that  the  writer  has  experienced  or 
observed  the  predicament  which  he  describes  —  it  is  a  business- 
man advising  his  friend.  The  address  my  sou,  with  which  the 
Heb.  begins,  here  not  inappropriate,  is  by  some  critics  omitted  on 
rhythmical  grounds.  Pledged  thyself,  ht.  struck  thy  hand,  refer- 
ence to  a  legal  procedure  for  concluding  a  bargain  (cf.  2  K.  10''). 
In  v.^*  lips  (instead  of  the  words  of  thy  mouth  of  the  Heb.)  is  taken 
from  the  Grk.,  and  is  in  accordance  with  the  usage  of  the  context, 
in  which  synonyms  and  not  repetitions  are  employed.  Fellow 
and  another  (RV.  stranger)  here  mean  any  person  with  whom 
one  has  dealings  —  the  terms  are  not  contrasted,  but  synonymous; 
for  the  first  see  Gen.  i  v"  Ex.  2'^  20'"  Pr.  6"^,  etc.,  for  the  second 
I  K.  3^'^  Job  15'"  Pr.  5'",  etc.  The  figure  of  the  couplet  is  taken 
from  hunting  —  the  unwary  surety  is  an  animal  caught  in  a  trap. 
—  3-5.  The  rest  of  the  section  urges  the  surety  to  get  out  of  his 
difficulty  as  quickly  as  possible.  —  3.  Probably  a  quatrain  (as  in  the 
Grk.),  though  the  text  is  not  quite  certain;  the  first  couplet  may 
be  taken  as  ternary,  the  second  couplet  as  binary.  This  refers  to 
what  follows.  The  expression  and  free  thyself,  added  in  the  Heb. 
at  the  end  of  the  first  line,  is  anticipatory,  unnecessary,  and  inter- 
ruptive ;  it  was  probably  inserted  by  a  scribe  from  v.^  The 
second  line  is  parenthetical,  and  states  the  reason  for  prompt  action  ; 
power  is  lit.  hand ;  the  commoner  expression  is  to  fall  into  one^s 
hand  (2  S.  24"  Lam.  i',  cf.  Nah.  3'-).  The  verb  in  third  line  is 
doubtful  in  form  and  signification.  It  is  taken  by  some  to  mean 
tread,  stamp,  crush  thyself  down,  demean,  humble  thyself  (^N .)  ;  by 
others,  as  denominative  from  a  word  meaning  mire,  in  the  equiv- 
alent sense  ^^/  doivn  into  the  mire  (see  Ez.  34^^  and  cf.  Pr.  25"'''). 

*  Heb.  adds  (probably  from  v.^) :  and  free  thyself.  f  Heb. :  hand. 


VI.  1-5  121 

The  connection  favors  the  meaning  violently  bestir  thyself  (RV. 
marg.  bestir  thyself),  act  impetuously  or  move  quickly  (so  the 
Vulg.).  Grk.  :  Do,  my  son,  what  I  bid  thee,  and  save  thyself — 
for  thou  art  come  into  the  hands  of  bad  men  on  thy  friend^ s  ac- 
count—  be  not  slack,  but  sharply  assail  thy  friend  also  for  whom 
thou  hast  pledged  thyself — the  same  general  meaning  as  that  of 
the  Heb. :  no  time  is  to  be  lost  and  no  soft  words  to  be  used  — 
go  and  insist  on  being  released  from  your  pledge.  Importune 
(RV.)  is  hardly  strong  enough ;  beset,  besiege,  or  assail  better 
express  the  impetuosity  involved  in  the  Heb.  term.  Then  (RV. 
now)  is  illative,  not  temporal ;  so  in  Ex.  33'"  Job  9-"  1 7^'  al.  — 
4,  5.  Synonymous,  v.'*  ternary-binary,  v;^  ternary.  Continuation 
of  exhortation.  In  v.''''-  the  Heb.  has  simply  frotn  the  hand  (so 
Vulg.),  and  RV.  (as  AV.)  suppHes,  by  conjecture,  of  the  hunter ; 
this  is  a  natural  construction,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  defining 
word  may  have  fallen  out  of  the  Heb. ;  but  it  is  simpler  to  read 
snare  or  trap,  with  Grk.,  Targ.,  Syr. ;  see  this  expression  in  BS. 
27-*'. — The  animal  named  in  v.^*  is  a  deer  (Dt.  12^^),  swift,  an 
inhabitant  of  the  plain  (28.  2^^)  and  of  the  mountain  (i  C.  12'^, 
perh.  2  S.  i^"),  a  symbol  of  mascuhne  beauty  (Cant.  2'^  8^^),  and 
so  is  generally  understood  to  be  the  gazelle  ( Tabitha,  Acts  (f^,  is 
the  fem.  form  of  the  equivalent  Aramaic  word).* 

Of  the  details  of  the  old  Heb.  law  of  suretyship  or  endorsement 
we  have  no  information.  Besides  the  procedure  of  Judah  in 
pledging  himself  for  Benjamin  (Gen.  43^),  and  a  couple  of  allu- 
sions to  the  practice  (Job  t-T  ^  119'--),  we  find  in  OT.,  outside 
of  Pr.,  only  one  description  of  a  business-transaction  involving 
personal  security  (Neh.  5^"^^),  and  this  is  rather  of  the  nature  of  a 
mortgage  given  by  a  man  on  his  children  regarded  as  his  property. 
The  allusions  to  personal  endorsement  all  occur  in  postexilian 
writings  ;  it  is  probable  that  the  custom  (for  which  there  was  no 
ground  in  the  commercially  simple  preexilian  Hfe)  sprang  up  when 
the  Jews  were  scattered  through  the  Persian  and  Greek  empires 
and  entered  on  their  real  commercial  career.  On  the  law  of 
pledges  of  things  see  Ex.  22^-'  Dt.  24^""^^.  —  The  surety  was 
sometimes  financially  ruined  by  having  to  meet  the  obligations  of 

*  See  Tristram,  Wood,  Nowack. 


122  PROVERBS 

the  debtor  (BS.  29'^-^^),  and  was  thus  at  the  mercy  of  the  latter, 
who  might  throw  him  into  the  hands  of  the  creditor ;  the  bad 
men  of  the  Grk.  in  v.''  appear  to  be  creditors.  Probably  all  of  a 
man's  property  might  be  pledged  for  debt ;  whether  there  was  a 
homestead-exemption  law  is  uncertain,  nor  does  it  appear  whether 
the  debtor  could  be  sold  as  a  slave. 

6-11.  Against  sloth.  The  example  of  the  ant  is  adduced, 
and  the  sluggard  warned  that  poverty  will  overtake  him.  The 
tone  is  perhaps  satirical ;  the  passage  is  a  specimen  of  the  popular 
teaching  of  the  sages.  —  The  parallel  passage,  24^"'^'*,  does  not 
adduce  the  ant,  but  describes  the  neglected  condition  of  the  slug- 
gard's field,  and  has  the  same  conclusion  as  our  section  :  24^-^*  = 
lit.  6^'''  '^  The  two  paragraphs  are  variations  on  the  same  theme ; 
both  have  taken  the  ending  from  the  same  source  (some  familiar 
expression,  or  some  earlier  collection  of  aphorisms,  now  lost),  or 
one  has  borrowed  from  the  other.  In  either  case  our  passage  has 
a  clearer  unity  than  that  of  ch.  24,  in  which  our  v.^  must  be  intro- 
duced before  v.^  in  order  to  connect  the  conclusion  with  what 
precedes.  Bickell  so  transfers  v.^,  and  omits  v.^"-  '^  as  identical 
with  24^**;  but  both  sections  must  be  retained  entire  as  parallel 
passages,  with  the  possibility  that  one  has  borrowed  from  the 
other.  Obviously  our  section  does  not  belong  in  its  present 
place,  though  when  and  how  it  was  misplaced  we  cannot  say ; 
the  change  was  made  early,  since  the  Versions  here  accord  with 
the  Hebrew.     Cf.  BS.  22^  2. 

6.  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard, 
Consider  her  ways  and  be  wise. 

7.  She,  having  no  chief, 
Overseer,  or  ruler, 

8.  Provides  her  food  in  summer, 
Gathers  her  provision  in  harvest-time. 

9.  How  long  wilt  thou  sleep,  O  sluggard? 
When  wilt  thou  rise  from  thy  slumber? 

10.  A  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 

A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  rest  — 

11.  So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  highwayman, 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man. 


VI.  5-8  123 

6.  Progressive,  ternary.  Cf.  30-^  On  the  ant  in  proverbial 
literature  see  Malan  on  this  verse.*  On  the  habits  of  the  animal 
see  Encyl.  Brit,  Darwin  in  Journ.  of  Linnaean  Soc.  VI.  21,  Lub- 
bock, Ants,  Bees,  and  Wasps.  What  particular  species  is  here 
meant  is  uncertain;  cf.  Tristram,  Nat.  Hist,  of  the  Bible.  —  The 
term  sluggard  appears  to  belong  to  the  parenetic  vocabulary  of 
OT.  \  it  occurs  only  in  Proverbs.  But  the  observation  of  the 
habits  of  the  ant  and  its  use  as  an  example  of  industry  may  be 
old;  cf.  I  K.  z}^"'  (5'^).  —  7.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  The 
three  terms  employed  are  here  used  as  synonymous,  though  they 
have  their  different  shades  of  meaning.  The  first  is  employed  in 
OT.  of  both  civil  and  military  leaders  (Ju.  11''  Isa.  3'')  ;  the  second 
denotes  a  sort  of  roll-officer,  who  keeps  a  hst  of  names  and  super- 
intends the  men  at  their  work,  in  peace  or  in  war  (Ex.  5''  Dt.  20^ 
2  Chr.  19")  ;  the  third  is  a  general  term  for  ruler,  royal  or  other 
(i  K.  4^^  [5'J  Isa.  16^  Jer.  51*'')-  —  Ants  are  said  by  recent  writers 
to  have  an  elaborate  social  organization,  sometimes  with  king  and 
queen,  sometimes  with  a  slave-class  acquired  (as  by  the  tertnites 
or  white  ants)  by  capture  and  forced  to  do  the  work  of  the  com- 
munity. This  organization  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to  the 
ancients  (Aristotle,  De  Anini.,  I.  i.  11,  calls  them  anarchal,  with- 
out government),  though  Aelian  (in  his  History  of  Animals,  third 
cent,  of  our  era)  speaks  of  their  leaders  and  nobles.  —  This  verse 
is  omitted  by  Bickell  as  a  prosaic  gloss,  which  weakens  the  .com- 
parison and  introduces  the  irrelevant  consideration  of  govern- 
mental direction  —  irrelevant  because  men  are  industrious  not  by 
pressure  of  rulers,  but  from  regard  to  their  private  interests.  The 
second  and  third  points  are  not  well  taken  :  social  organization 
certainly  helps  human  industry,  and  our  writer  says  that  ants,  with- 
out this  advantage,  set  men  a  good  example.  The  argument  from 
lack  of  poetic  form  has  more  weight,  —  the  verse  is  not  a  complete 
couplet,  —  but  we  can  hardly  throw  it  out  on  that  account.  Grk. 
makes  it  a  triplet,  and  possibly  some  word  or  phrase  has  fallen  out 
of  the  Heb.  text.  —  8.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  vbs.  provide 
(lit.  establish,  prepare)  and  gather  here  amount  to  the  same  thing, 
and  the  nouns /^^^/  and  provision  are  synonyms.     The  word  ren- 

*  De.  mentions  also  Goldberg,  Oiofes  Matmonim,  and   Landsberger,  Fabulae 
aliqiiot  Aramacae. 


124  PROVERBS 

dered  sunijuerh  sometimes  used  for  the  warm  season  in  general,  as 
opposed  to  winter  (Gen.  8"  \p  74^')'  extending  apparently  through 
harvest-time  (Jer.  8""),  sometimes  for  the  latter  part  of  the  fruit- 
season  (Isa.  28^  Jer.  40^°).  Han'est  also  is  temporally  indefinite, 
varying  with  the  crop,  from  March  (barley,  2  S.  21^)  to  September 
(grapes,  Isa.  18^).  The  two  clauses  are  identical  in  meaning; 
the  sense  is  not  that  the  ant  does  one  thing  in  summer  and  an- 
other in  harvest-time.  Nor  is  it  intended  to  express  progress  in 
the  action  (by  the  different  Heb.  verb-forms)  :  begins  to  provide  in 
summer,  completes  the  gather iiig  in  autumn.  The  structure  of  the 
other  verses  of  the  section  points  to  an  identical  parallelism  here. 
—  As  to  the  industrial  habit  spoken  of  in  the  verse,  the  latest 
authorities  hold  that  some  species  of  ant  are  graminivorous  and 
store  up  food ;  for  the  modern  opinion  see  the  works  cited  above, 
and  for  ancient  statements  see  Malan.  —  Grk.  adds  :  Or,  go  to  the 
bee  and  learn  how  diligent  she  is  and  how  seriously  she  does  her 
work  —  her  products  kings  and  private  persons  use  for  health  — 
she  is  desired  and  respected  by  all —  though  feeble  in  body,  by  honor- 
ing wisdom  she  obtains  distinction.  The  addition  comes  from  a 
Grk.  scribe  (it  is  probably  a  gloss  which  has  got  into  the  text) 
who  thought  that  the  other  industrious  insect  ought  not  to  go 
unmentioned.  Elsewhere  in  OT.  (Isa.  7'^  Dt.  i'*^  i//  118'-)  the  bee 
is  introduced  as  hostile  to  man ;  the  word  does  not  occur  in  the 
Heb.  text  of  Proverbs.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ternary.  It  is  agri- 
cultural life  that  the  description  is  dealing  with  (cf  24'^"),  in  which 
early  rising  is  a  necessity.*  Cf.  the  Eng.  early  to  bed  and  early  to 
rise,  etc.,  and  many  such  popular  sayings;  Persius  v.  132-134  re- 
sembles our  passage  in  form.  — 10.  Synonymous  (or,  condnuous), 
binary  (or,  binary-ternary).  The  sluggard's  reply,  or  continua- 
tion of  the  remonstrance  of  the  sage.  The  repetition  of  a  little  is 
perh.  intended  to  give  a  humorous  coloring,  but  may  be  meant 
simply  as  a  serious  description.  Cf.  the  babbling  words  put  into 
the  drunkards'  mouths  in  Isa.  28'".  The  second  clause  is  ht. 
a  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  lie,  that  is,  to  lie  comfortably,  to 
compose  one's  self  to  sleep.     The  same  phrase  in  Eccl.  4^  signi- 


*  Early  rising  was,  however,  the  general  rule  in  ancient  life;  see  Plato,  Laws, 
vii.  pp.  807,  808  ;  Arist.,  Econ.  i.  6 ;  Juv.,  vii.  222  ff. 


VI.  8-12  125 

fies  stupid  inactivity.  —  11.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Highwayman 
is  roadster,  wayfarer,  the  implication  being  that  his  purpose  is 
bad  ;  the  term,  Hke  Eng.  highwaytnan,  belongs  to  a  time  when 
travelling  was  not  safe,  when  men  who  frequented  the  pubHc  roads 
were  likely  to  be  robbers  (cf.  RV.).  Armed  man,  lit.  man  with  a 
shield,  perhaps  a  wandering  soldier  out  of  service  (Oort),  more 
probably  simply  a  dangerous  assailant.  Poverty,  properly  (as 
result  of  sloth)  a  negative  thing,  lack  of  goods,  is  personified  as  a 
powerful  and  ruthless  enemy  who  destroys  or  carries  off  one's  sub- 
stance. —  Instead  of  shieldman  Grk.  has  swift  runner  (apparently 
representing  a  different  Heb.  text  from  ours),  which  offers  a  formal 
but  not  a  real  parallel  to  the  wayfarer  of  first  clause.  Grk.  (fol- 
lowed by  Vulg.)  further  adds  :  but  if  thou  be  diligent,  thy  harvest 
will  come  as  a  fountain,  and  want  luill  depart  as  a  bad  runner  — 
the  contrast  to  the  preceding  statement,  and  probably  from  a  Grk. 
hand. 

12-15.  The  mischief  maker  —  rebuke  of  mischievous  talk 
and  hints. — The  tone  is  curt  and  sharp,  the  rhythm  irregular; 
the  vocabulary  perhaps  points  to  a  late  period. 

12.  A  wicked  man,  a  bad  man 
Deals  in  false  speech, 

13.  Winks  with  his  eyes,  scrapes  with  his  feet, 
Signs  with  his  fingers, 

14.  Devises  mischief  in  his  mind, 
Is  always  sowing  discord. 

15.  Therefore  of  a  sudden  shall  calamity  strike  him, 
Suddenly  shall  he  be  crushed,  and  that  without  remedy. 

In  this  translation  the  second  line  of  v.^^  appears  as  merely  one 
item  in  the  indictment,  but  the  paragraph  may  also  be  translated  : 
a  wicked  man  .  .  .  dealing  with  .  .  .  winking  .  .  .  scraping  .  .  . 
signi7ig  .  .  .  devising  .  .  .  is  always  sotving  discord,  the  last  ex- 
pression giving  the  result  of  the  preceding  acts ;  this  construction 
does  not  modify  the  general  sense. 

12.  Parallels,  ternary.  The  two  adjectives  are  synonymous, 
expressing  general  depravity;  the  first  (Heb.  man  of  behalf 
occurs  in  16^  19-^,  the  second  (Heb.  man  of  badness  or  iniquity^ 
in  6^*  10^  1 1^,  etc.     The  term  belial  usually  means  deep  depravity 


I 26  PROVERBS 

(not  merely  worthlessness) ;  in  two  passages,  \\i  18*^^'  41**^',  appar- 
ently utter  ruin  (cf.  Cheyne,  Psalms).  Instead  of  son  of  Belial 
(Ju.  19",  etc.)  the  rendering  should  be  wicked  jnan.  Speech  is 
lit.  mouth  —  the  fault  denounced  is  evil  talk.  Grk.  and  Syr., 
however,  omitting  mouth  have  walks  in  ways  that  are  not  good, 
and  this  may  be  the  right  reading ;  the  false  of  the  Heb.  would 
then  be  defined  in  v.^^- " ;  cf.  4-'^  Mouth  may  be  understood  as 
expressing  the  man's  whole  thought.  The  first  line  is  by  some 
expositors  (Saadia,  Zock.,  al.)  taken  as  a  separate  sentence  :  a 
luorthless  [properly  wicked'\  man  is  the  deceiver,  which  is  possi- 
ble, but  does  not  agree  so  well  with  the  structure  of  the  paragraph. 
— 13.  Three  binary  clauses.  Gestures  indicating  the  spirit  of 
malice  and  mischief.  Movement  of  the  eyes  occurs  in  10'°  BS.  27" 
as  sign  of  mischief,  in  \p  35^^  as  sign  of  exultation ;  cf.  the  Arab. 
saying  (attributed  to  Ali)  O  God,  pardon  us  the  culpable  winking 
of  the  eye  (De.),  and  see  other  parallels  in  Malan.  The  second 
verb  is  rendered  in  the  Grk.  by  gives  signs,  in  Targ.  and  Syr.  by 
stamps,  in  Aq.,  Sym.,  Vulg.  (in  accordance  with  aTalmudic  use  of 
the  word)  by  rubs  {^scrapes,  shuffles)  :  in  any  case  the  movement 
is  a  mark  of  enmity,  perhaps  a  sign  to  a  confederate  ;  the  render- 
ing i/,?rt!/&j-  (RV.)  is  here  inappropriate,  though  the  verb  elsewhere 
has  that  meaning.  Signing  (lit.  teaching)  with  the  fingers  is  a 
universal  gesture,  of  various  import,  here  mischievous,  contemptu- 
ous, etc. ;  for  the  sense  shoiv  see  Gen.  46-^  Ex.  15^.  For  other 
inimical  movements  of  the  body  see  Job  16"-^''.  The  verse  is  a 
lively  description  of  the  silent,  underhand  procedures  of  mischief- 
makers,  the  hints,  suggestions,  provocations,  and  signals  that  are 
effective  in  hatching  quarrels  or  giving  insults.  — 14.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  A  direct  statement  of  what  is  imphed  in  the  preced- 
ing verses.  The  man  occupies  himself  with  devising  mischievous 
schemes,  in  private  and  public  relations  ;  in  second  cl.  Grk.  has 
makes  disturbances  in  the  city,  a  fuller  statement  of  what  the  Heb. 
suggests.  In  the  Heb.  text  the  verse  reads  :  Evil  is  in  his  mind 
[lit.  heart~\,  he  devises  mischief  continually,  he  spreads  strifes,  a 
triplet  which  may  be  reduced  to  a  couplet  by  the  omission  of  one 
word  {tnischief)  ;  the  change  does  not  affect  the  sense.  Evil,  = 
7nischief,  is  in  the  most  general  sense  departure  from  good  ;  see 
note  on  2^^,  evil  2Xi6i  wrong.  — 15.    Synonymous,  quaternary.    The 


VI.   I2-I6  127 

penalty.  The  writer's  sense  of  the  seriousness  of  the  vice  described 
is  indicated  by  the  abrupt,  vehement,  ahnost  fierce,  declaration  of 
punishment.  On  calamity,  see  note  on  i-".  The  two  Heb.  terms 
for  sudden  are  synonyms ;  the  first  occurs  in  24"  (it  is  better 
omitted  in  3-^),  the  second  in  29'  (the  second  cl.  of  which  is 
identical  with  second  cl.  of  our  verse  —  note  the  difference  be- 
tween the  offences  in  the  two  verses) .  Crushed  is  lit.  broken,  = 
destroyed;  see  Jer.  17^^  Ez.  32'-^  Lam.  i'^  Dan.  8'-^.  The  blow  is 
irremediable,  that  is,  it  is  death.  The  agency  of  destruction  is 
not  stated  ;  the  writer's  view  doubtless  was  that  it  might  come 
from  God  directly,  by  sickness,  etc.,  or  indirectly,  through  the 
enemies,  private  and  public,  that  a  mischief-maker  naturally  raises 
up  against  himself.  Sudden  death  was  regarded  as  a  great  mis- 
fortune, and  as  a  sign  of  divine  anger,  since  it  sent  the  man  irre- 
trievably to  Sheol  (see  2''''),  where  he  could  never  gain  a  position 
of  favor  with  God. 

16-19.  A  list  of  seven  things  hateful  to  God.  —  The  section 
is  similar  to  those  in  30""^'  in  its  arithmetical  enumeration,  and  to 
gi2-i5  jj^  i^g  subject-matter  and  rhetorical  form  (absence  of  com- 
parisons) ;  by  the  nature  of  its  contents  it  appropriately  follows 
y_i2-i5_  ^Yie  things  enumerated  belong  all  together ;  they  portray 
the  character  of  the  man  who  schemes  to  despoil  and  ruin  his 

fellows. 

16.  There  are  six  things  that  Yahweh  hates, 
Yea,  seven  are  an  abomination  to  him : 

17.  Haughty  eyes,  a  lying  tongue, 

And  hands  that  shed  innocent  blood, 

18.  A  mind  that  devises  wicked  schemes, 
Feet  that  make  haste  to  do  harm,* 

19.  A  false  witness  who  utters  lies, 

And  he  who  sows  discord  among  brethren. 

16.  Progressive  (substantially  synonymous),  ternary.  The  se- 
quence SIX,  seven  does  not  imply  that  the  seventh  thing  is  an  after- 
thought, or  inferior  in  importance  to  the  others ;  it  is  a  rhetorical 
form,  equivalent  to  our  six  or  seven,  arithmetically  indefinite,  im- 
plying that  the  enumeration  does  not  exhaust  the  list  of  things 

*  Heb. :  viake  haste  to  run  to  harm. 


128  PROVERBS 

coming  under  a  particular  category;  cf.  notes  on  30"-'^.  Between 
the  expressions  Yahweh  hates  and  abomination  to  him  there  is  no 
difference  of  meaning ;  on  abomination  see  note  on  3^^.  The 
sense  of  the  verse  is  :  God  hates  and  abomitiates  a  number  of 
things,  namely. — 17.  Parallels,  ternary.  Haughty  eyes;  so  30^^ 
Haughtiness  is  naturally  expressed  by  the  eyes  (cf.  Lat.  super- 
ciliutn);  see  i//  131.  In  i//  iS""*-*^^  the  expression  characterizes 
Israel's  proud  and  oppressive  enemies,  whom  Yahweh  will  bring 
down.  More  generally  in  Isa.  2""'^  10^^  Job  21^^  38^^  all  lofty 
things  are  conceived  of  as  standing  in  antagonism  to  God  and 
therefore  destined  to  be  overthrown  (cf.  the  Greek  representation 
of  the  deity  as  jealous  of  powerful  men,  Prometheus  and  Poly- 
crates  of  Samos,  and  the  Hindu  stories  of  Indra's  fear  of  certain 
Munis).  This  national  point  of  view  remains  to  the  end  of  OT, 
(Daniel),  in  Apocryphal  books  (Ben-Sira,  Mace,  etc.),  and  in  the 
Talmud,  but  does  not  appear  in  Pr. ;  in  our  verse  it  is  individual 
moral  feeling  that  is  spoken  of — haughtiness,  put  alongside  of 
falsehood  and  murder,  is  to  be  understood  as  implying  disregard 
of  human  rights  and  divine  laws  —  it  is  excessive  conceit  of  and 
regard  for  one's  own  person.  —  Instead  of  innocent  blood  we 
might  render  by  the  blood  of  the  innocent  (or,  righteous')  as  in 
Dt.  19'°  Jer.  19*;  the  meaning  is  the  same.  — 18.  Parallels,  ter- 
nary. The  expression  zvicked  schemes  might  be  understood  in  a 
wide  sense  as  including  all  plans  and  plots  that  are  opposed  to  the 
right,  but  here  refers  particularly  to  harmful  plots.  The  Heb.,  in 
second  line,  reads  :  make  haste  to  run,  which  means  not  swiftness 
in  running  (RV.  after  the  Vulg.)  but  haste  in  beginning  to  run, 
eagerness  to  seize  on  every  opportunity  to  engage  in  wickedness ; 
the  picture  of  eagerness  contained  in  the  word  haste  is  heightened 
by  the  term  run  (instead  of  walk) ;  cf.  \p  147^^  The  Grk.  omits 
run,  reading /r^/  liastening  to  do  ill ;  cf.  i^'',  where  only  one  verb  is 
employed  in  each  clause  ;  as  the  run  is  unnecessary,  the  Grk.  text 
is  probably  to  be  preferred.  — 19.  Parallels,  ternary.  The  second 
cl.  is  identical  in  meaning  with  v.'^'',  brethren  being  taken  as  = 
friends  or  associates,  members  of  the  same  circle  —  the  suggestion 
is  that  there  is  no  occasion  or  temptation  to  sow  dissensions  except 
among  persons  whose  mutual  relations  are  amicable. —  The  mean- 
ing of  first  cl.  is  plain,  but  its  form  is  doubtful.     In  14^,  where  the 


VI.  i6-i9  129 

Heb.  text  recurs,  it  is  properly  rendered  a  false  witness  utters  lies 
(and  so  the  Grk.  here),  but  this  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  syntacti- 
cal form  in  the  other  verses  —  we  expect  a  subject  defined  by  fol- 
lowing words.  Similar  objections  hold  to  other  translations  of  our 
Heb.  text :  he  who  utters  lies  is  a  false  witness  (cf.  for  the  con- 
struction Eccl.  i''\  but  here  the  resulting  identical  proposition  is 
out  of  the  question,  and  the  declarative  sentence  is  out  of  keeping 
with  the  context)  ;  he  who  utters  lies  as  a  false  witness  *  is  hard 
and  improbable,  and  so  the  appositional  rendering  he  who  utters 
lies,  a  false  witness,  and  he  who  utters  lies,  false  testimony.  The 
cl.  is  not  in  proper  shape,  and  it  seems  better,  with  Syr.  and  Targ., 
to  invert  the  Heb.  order  and  translate  by  a  false  witness  7vho 
utters  lies,  f  which  accords  in  form  with  the  rest  of  the  section. 
For  the  thought  cf.  12^''  i4'^'^  and  ig'-^  25''^;  for  laws  against  false 
testifying  see  Ex.  2oi«  (=  Dt.  5-")  Dt.  19^'^  Lev.  6'^  (5'^).  The 
expression  witness  of  falsity  (as  the  Heb.  reads)  is  parallel  to 
tongue  of  falsity  in  v.'''. 

1.  |§  ''JD,  attested  by  all  Vrss.,  omitted  by  Bi.,  as  marring  the  rhythm; 
without  it  we  have  only  two  ictus  in  the  line.  —  The  force  of  the  dx,  which 
extends  to  end  of  v.-,  is  confined  by  (5  to  v.^*.  —  |^  plu.  idd;  read  sing.,  with 
(§,S2u3L,  as  the  sense  requires.  —  2.  Taken  by  (5  as  ground  (lAp)  for  the 
statement  of  v.^''  (irapadibaei?),  and  written  in  3  pers.  —  a  divergent  text  which 
does  not  agree  with  the  context  so  well  as  |^. — The  repetition  of  ncx  in  ^  is 
strange,  and  so  also  the  similar  repetition,  xe^Xi?,  xeiXeo-ti',  in  (§;  as  the  x^^^V 
prob.  had  a  Heb.  basis,  it  is  better  to  write  "T^D'y  in  second  line  of  |^ ;  p-rjuacn 
inst.  of  x^^^-)  is  given  in  H-P  147  (161  suprascript.),  252,  297,  and  Compl. 
(and  \6yu3  in  Arm.),  which  may  be  a  correction  after  |^,  or  a  rhetorical  varia- 
tion. On  ISiov  =  eavTov  see  Deissmann,  ^f^^A/z/^/.,  pp.  I20ff.  —  3.  Pj  Ssin^ 
see  note  on  v^. —  In  '^  (S  a  eyui  <toi  ivriWofiai.  seems  to  be  free  rendering 
of  ]ij  NiflN  PNr,  hardly  =  lixx;  ets  x^^P°'-^  KUKdv  in  ^,  =  a^i  133,  is  prob.  doub- 
let (possibly  the  orig.  Grk.  reading),  the  |^  text  being  represented  by  did.  abv 
<pl\ov;  icrdi.  (in  ")  is  perh.  scribal  error  for  Wi,  which  reading  is  found  in  codd. 
B^'^A  (see  Lag.'s  n.).  —  ^  Dsnnn;  (g  /xr;  iK\v6/j.€vos,  %,  festina;  Si^  render 
the  two  vbs.  of  |^  freely  by  S^^n  j-\j  arouse  therefore,  apparently  giving  no 
separate  word  for  "^  n ;  and  in  "  nidn  is  not  rendered  at  all.  7yi  and  y^'^, 
difference  of  orthography.  To  make  the  reference  in  'y^-\  clear  <5  adds 
o  kveyvi\(T(j3.  —  4.  Gr.  suggests  3  pers.,  instead  of  2  pers.,  for  the  suffix. — 
5.  1^  IT,  here  impossible  (used  in  rabbin.  Heb.  as  =  offhand,  immediately) ; 
the  expression  occurs  isolated  elsewhere  only  i  K.  20*2  where  it  is  error  for 

*  E\v.,  De.,  Now.,  Zock.,  Sir.,  Kamph.  t  RV.  Noycs,  Reuss. 

K 


130  PROVERBS 

TT'D  (see  (5);  here  we  must  either  supply  a  word,  as  i-"  (RV.,  Bott.)  or  r\n 
(Gr.,  Str.),  or  better,  with  <@S2C,  Oort,  Bi.,  write  no  for  n^;  Kamp.  transfers 
the  1  of  nisp-1  to  -[\  .  .  .  as  a  gazelle  from  his  hand,  as  a  bird,  etc.,  which  is 
simple,  but  does  not  account  for  (§  ^pbx^v  or  secure  paralleHsm  with  ^:.'^\>^•, 
this  last  is  omitted  in  (5Si2C,  but  is  favored  by  the  rhythm.  For  the  second  ii 
several  Heb.  codd.  have  hd,  — 6-11.  The  style  of  (S  in  this  section  is  freer 
than  in  most  other  passages;  the  text  is  often  rather  a  paraphrase  than  a 
translation  —  a  result  perh.  of  the  secular  and  homely  nature  of  the  subject- 
matter. —  6.  |§  .T^r::,  (5  /xrjp/xr]^,  W-  prDiu'  or  jcriu-,  ^  ;cu'ir  (Arab.  cpcD); 
the  origin  of  the  Heb.  word  is  unknown.  —  The  ^tjXwitov  and  iKeivov  coipure- 
pos  of©  are  rhetorical  expansion.  — 1&  ■]^;  SST  paraphrase  by  NCinn  imitate. 
&  omits  ||J  '?s;%  and  transfers  ajm  to  next  verse.  —  7.  f^  p"ip;  (S  yeoopyiov,  not 
=  Aram.  ]^-ap  (Lag.),  but  free  rendering  of  lisp  (which  S2u  read  instead  of 
]'sp).  —  1^  "'":?>^'>  2  ypafi/jLaria.  —  8.  The  variation  of  vb. -forms  is  rhetorical. 
—  On  the  terms  in  the  addition  in  <3  see  Lag.'s  note. — 9.  |^  ^ipp;  (gABXaj 
iyepd-na-y,  as  in  Ju.  2^^'  ^^,  perh.  =  y^pr,  cf.  Pr.  6^'^.  — 10.  Oort  suggests  that 
nyz'^  is  dittogram  from  ^yz'n  S  of  preceding  verse,  but  the  word  is  in  sense 
and  rhythm  appropriate;  it  was  perh.  lacking  in  Heb.  text  of  (g,  hardly  (Oort, 
Baumg.)  read  □]']C''?  (o-t-tjOt])  ;  cf.  Pinkuss'  note. — (3  makes  the  v.  an  ad- 
dress to  the  sluggard,  and  in  "^  has  an  additional  cl.,  oXiyov  8i  Kad-qaai,  =  o;'D 
2yi',  probably  expansion  of  Grk.  scribe  (the  Heb.  rhythm  is  against  it)  or  here 
introduced  by  error  from  •*  (cf.  remark  above  on  dd'J-^).  — 11.  H  "i'7nr,  writ- 
ten "I'^nnD  in  24^*.  —  tTNi  (sm),  a  favorite  word  in  Pr.,  though  ■■jy  (ij  ), 
t^Jiy,  '^1,  also  occur  a  number  of  times.  —  The  v.  is  variously  rendered  in  the 
Vrss.  H  I'^na  is  explained  in  (g  as  /ca/cos  bdoLvopos,  and  is  taken  by  SST, 
against  the  parallelism,  as  vb.,  ir"n\~ii  will  assault  thee  ;  |§  ;io  ir-w,  ffir  ayadbs 
Spofievs  (and  in  the  added  couplet  /ca/c6s  5po/i,ei>s),  Si^T  NiitiO  ni2J  a  quick 
{alert)  man,  =  JD3  tr^N  (Lag.,  Oort)  or  better  -inn  •lI-n  (Baumg.),  neither  of 
which  readings  seems  preferable  to  that  of  |^  (with  which  IL  agrees).  The 
additional  couplet  in  (§  is  doublet  of  ||(;  on  its  Heb.  text  see  Hitz.,  Lag., 
Baumg.  In  24^^  (g  (like  S'^)  renders  d  by  Trpoiropevojiivri,  and  in  ^  SST  have 
Nn?a3  tabellariiis,  courier  (=  5po/j.eiJs).  ^  appears  to  have  in  mind  the  vio- 
lence of  the  armed  robber,  (§53^  the  swiftness  of  the  traveller  or  courier. — 
12.  1^  m«<  is  not  elsewhere  followed  by  defining  subst.,  and  De.,  Str.,  therefore 
take  ^"2*^3  as  adj.  (cf.  constr.  in  11"),  but,  as  this  is  hardly  allowable,  we  must 
either  write  'j-in,  as  in  16-'',  or  accept  this  phrase  as  proof  that  din  may  be  fol- 
lowed by  defining  subst.  —  |^  '^i'l'?^;  for  the  two  defining  terms  (of  ||))  (@  has 
&(ppoi3v  and  Trapdvoixos  (103,  253:  irapdv.  and  dcppuv),  and  '2  may  here  be  rep- 
resented by  the  latter  (which  is  its  more  usual  representative);  <S  i<^':>0  folly ; 
2r  .xc'?^  oppression;  5L  apostata  (so  elsewhere  Aq.).  ^;"''^D  occurs  27  times 
in  Mas.  text  of  OT.,  and  further  apparently,  according  to  (5,  in  i  Sam.  29!", 
perhaps  also  (Cheyne)  in  yp  52®  (always  as  subst.),  and  =  ivickedness  every- 
where except  Nah.  i^^  2^  1/'  18^  (=2  Sam.  22^)  41',  where  it  =  ruin,  destruc- 
tion (=  deatJi).  The  origin  of  the  word  is  doubtful.  It  has  commonly  been 
regarded  as  a  compound,  the  first  element  being  the  neg.  •'^2,  the  second  ele- 


VI.  5-14  131 

ment  being  ^■'",  or  some  form  of  nSj,'  or  ^';\  An  early  Jewish  explanation  is 
reflected  in  the  apostate  of  Aq.  IL,  =  Sj?  "1S3  withotU  yoke,  disobedience  (so 
Sanhed.  iiib).  From  rh'i:  otte  does  not  ascend,  =  moral  lowness  (Kimchi)  ; 
or,  one  does  not  rise  (or,  emerge),  =  ruin  (so  Lag.,  Proph.  Chald.  XLVII, 
on  i/'  41^ :  [sickness]  from  which  one  does  not  rise,  suggesting  lai  instead 
of  -lai) ;  and,  more  generally,  [the  depth]  frotn  which  otte  does  not  co?ne  up 
(Cheyne,  Expositor,  June,  1895,  Baethgen,  Halevy),  =  Sheol  (JDMichaelis). 
From  ^'P :  no  profit,  —  worthlessness  (like  nj?T  '''^2  ignorance,  and  D'i'  ■'Sj 
natnelessness,  and  cf.  ^T  nS,  Jer.  2",  =  worthless  [foreign]  god),  in  moral 
sense,  like  px  (Gesen.  and  most  modern  expositors).  The  word  is  possibly 
not  a  compound.  It  has  been  proposed  to  connect  it  with  Babylonian  Bilil, 
a  goddess  of  the  Underworld*  (Cheyne,  Expos.  Times,  June,  1897);  "^  '''^^^ 
(1/'  18^)  would  then  =  streams  of  Shcol,  and  ':i  i'^J'JN  =  servants  of  Bilil,  = 
"bad  men."  This  last  rendering  cannot  be  accepted,  since  the  Underworld 
and  its  deities  had  no  ethical  significance  for  the  ancient  Semites;  but  it  is 
conceivable  that  in  ^  18^  (if  the  -^  be  postexilic)  an  original  S<~>1  Bilil 
( =  Sheol)  was  changed  by  an  editor  into  the  familiar  "^y^a  purposely  or  by 
error.  Yet  the  meaning  ruin  (  —  death)  accords  satisfactorily  with  the  parallel 
terms  in  the  i/*,  and  the  character  of  the  deity  Bilil  is  at  present  too  uncertain 
to  rest  an  argument  on.  Cf.  Mich.,  Supplementa,  s.v.  '?;••;  Baudissin  in  Herzog, 
RE^.,z.uA  in  Expos.  Zywd-j,  November,  1897;  Cheyne  va  Expos.  Times,  Decem- 
ber, 1897,  May'  1898;  Moore,  fudges,  on  Ju.  I9'^'^.  The  derivation  from  the 
noun  ^y^  appears  to  be  the  most  probable;  the  two  elements  came  to  be  writ- 
ten as  one  word,  like  nic^^i'.  Cf.  the  various  combinations  with  negatives  in 
Heb.  ("»3i  n'^,  ^o;'  n^),  and  the  use  of  the  Ass.  dalil,  as  noun  =  nonentity,  as 
prep.  =  7vithoiit.  —  Bef.  nii'p;?  ins.  a  (so  Bi.).  — 1§  na  V;  (5  65oi>s  ovk  dyadds, 
perh.  after  i6'^^  (Jag-);  ^D  is  omitted  in  S,  and  Oort  for  'd  writes  nr,  which  he 
transfers  to  next  v.  to  represent  (5  6  5'  avrbs  .  The  stem  '>,  subst.  or  adj., 
occurs  in  |§  with  7vay  in  2^^  28^,  with  heart  ii-'>  17^0,  with  lip  19^,  with  mouth 
here  and  4-'';  -\^-\  would  here  agree  well  with  the  following  context,  but  no 
serious  objection  in  this  regard  can  be  made  to  ns;  (g  and  f§  represent  par- 
allel texts.  — 13.  K.  p>'  and  "^J-^,  sing.,  and  so  <§;  Q  plu.,  perh.  better; 
3L  strangely  oculis,  pede,  and  digito.  —  |^  '^'^i",  (5  (njfiaiveL,  ^IH  Dd.",  3L  terit, 
A  Tpi^wv,  S  TrposTpi^wv;  the  most  appropriate  sense  is  rub,  stamp,  scrape,  not 
found  elsewhere  in  OT.,  but  well  attested  in  Talm. ;  whether  there  is  any  con- 
nection between  this  and  the  sense  speak  is  uncertain.  —  |^  T\-y\::,  (g  5t5d(j-/cet, 
S'^T  tDT;  teach  =  show,  give  indications  (on  relation  between  senses  teach  and 
throw  in  mi  see  SS.,  BDB.).  — 14.  ?^  is  supported  by  the  Vrss.,  exc.  that  (5  adds 


*  As  Underworld  deity  she  appears  only  in  a  mutilated  passage  in  the  Descent 
of  Ishtar,  where  she  seems  to  be  the  sister  of  Islitar  (cf.  Jensen,  Kosinologie,  p.  225). 
The  form  Bilili  occurs  in  a  list  of  gods  in  pairs,  who  are  invoked  thus :  "  in  the 
name  of  Alala  and  Bililu  may  it  be  conjured  away!  "  Otherwise  only  the  fem. 
form  Bililitum  is  found  (G.  A.  Reisner) ;  cf.  M.  Jastrow,  Reltg.  of  Babylonia  and 
Assyria,  pp.  417,  589. 


132  PROVERBS 

at  end  of  ^  ir6\eL  (H-P  io6  voWds),  perh.  expansion  of  Grk.  scribe,  less  prob- 
ably =  nj-ic3  (after  pj  °^';!c)  or  -\y  (from  foil.  ^■;).  —  As  ^  ends  with  Partcp., 
there  is  some  ground  for  so  ending  ^  and  omitting  y-\,  which  here  produces 
rhythmical  limping  (so  Bi.)  and  is  not  necessary  for  the  sense;  cf.  the  bal- 
anced phrases  in  the  similar  v.^^.  —  Saadia  (ed.  Derenbourg)  takes  niODnn  in 
sense  of  change  of  mind.  —  K.  D''J^D,  Q  Dijnp;  sing,  is  always  written  jnc, 
plu.  3  times  a>J^D  (twice  61^  lo^^^  without  Q),  elsewhere  K.  aijnc,  Q  D^onn 
(a  late,  probably  academic,  attempt  to  bring  out  the  Yod  of  the  stem) ;  on 
Mas.  text  see  notes  in  B-D  on  6^*  252*,  and  on  the  form  Ew.,  §  540^  160  (/, 
01s.,  §  203  b.  —  For  nSci  Gr.  reads  tt'nS'-,  tvhispers.  — 15.  (§  takes  jjpd  and 
-\iv-<  as  substantives;  in  OT.  'Q  occurs  as  subst.  only  with  prep,  and  in  sense 
of  a  moment.  — 16.  "^yn  cannot  be  Dem.  adj.  {these  six  or  those  six),  but  is 
(cf.  3o'8-2i-29)  either  pred.,  six  things  are  those,  with  following  rel.  cl.  (so 
apparently  .SS^IL),  or  as  subj.,  six  —  they  are  what  Y.  hates ;  in  ch.  30  the  pron. 
is  better  taken  as  appositional  subject. — For  re' (@  read  ru'  (Jag.),  x<»^P". 
and  i3C'i  (Lag.  =  las'i)  or  -latfj,  a-WTpi^erai,  for  yja*  (or  ^j^um).  Read  sing. 
n^jjin,  as  in  marg.  — 18.  |§  ynS,  lacking  in  (§,  is  omitted  by  Lag.  as  scribal 
error  (fiV  wrongly  written  for  y\h),  and  by  Bi.  as  tautological;  it  is  not 
necessary,  and  is  probably  error  (though  the  combination  of  mnc  and  71  is 
found  in  xp  147^^  and  fi^  may  easily  have  fallen  out  of  the  Heb.  text  of  (5).  — 
19.  r\^D\  as  to  its  form,  might  be  taken  as  subst.  and  pointed  as  in  stat.  const. ; 
but  common  nouns  made  by  pref.  Yod  are  rare,  the  resulting  sense  (a  breather 
of  lies,  a  false  witness,  so  IL),  though  possible,  would  not  accord  very  well  with 
the  context  (in  the  other  cases  mentioned  the  appositional  construction  does 
not  occur),  and  the  Vrss.  (exc.  Saad.  who  apparently  understands  it  as  Inf.) 
take  "I  as  vb.  The  cl.  seems  to  be  taken  from  or  assimilated  to  14^  (where  it 
is  in  good  form),  and  should  here  be  inverted,  as  inS2C;  cf.  12I".  ^.v•  is  taken 
as  abstr.  by  Saad.  Gr.  The  omission  of  "^ptt*  -\y  would  leave  an  unsatisfactory 
sentence. —  "'  is  well  rendered  in  (gABa?.  ^y  ^^Kalei  (H-P  103  iKx^ei).  —  nVi'C, 
Gr.  tt'nSc,  as  in  v.^*.  —  a''jic,  see  note  on  v.^*;   it  is  lacking  in  5. 


20-35.  Warning  against  the  adulteress.  —  We  here  return 
to  the  material  proper  to  this  Division  (chs.  1-9).  This  subsec- 
tion connects  itself  immediately  with  ch.  5,  having  the  same  gen- 
eral theme.  —  First  comes  commendation  of  parental  instruction 
(v.^""^),  then  apparently  of  wisdom  (v."-''),  especially  as  safeguard 
against  the  adulteress  who  brings  misfortune  to  her  victim  (v.^''"^^), 
he  getting  only  wounds  and  dishonor  (v.'^""''^)  throitgh  the  outraged 
husband's  anger  (v."'^-^).  The  section  is  similar  to  2"^^^  5.  7.  8^'^'^. 
These  may  all  have  been  composed  by  one  man  (since  there  is 
great  resemblance  between  them),  or  they  may  have  been  col- 
lected from  various  sources  by  an  editor. 


VI.   20-2I  133 

20,  21.    Commendation   of  parental   instruction.  —  See  note 

on   i^-^ 

20.  Keep,  my  son,  the  precept  of  thy  father. 
And  reject  not  the  instruction  of  thy  mother. 

21.  Bind  them  continually  to  thy  heart. 
Hang  them  around  thy  neck. 

20.  Parallels,  quaternary-ternary.  Parental  instruction  is  iden- 
tified with  the  teaching  of  the  sages ;  it  is  assumed  that  in  the 
well-ordered  household  father  and  mother  will  be  wise  ;  the  same 
assumption  is  made  in  all  commands  to  honor  and  obey  parents. 
Instruction  represents  the  Heb.  word  {tord)  usually  rendered  law. 
The  Grk.  has  plu.  in  both  clauses,  laws,  ordinances  ;  the  Vulg.  pre- 
cepts, law.  Cast  away  (the  proper  sense  of  the  Heb.)  =  substantially 
forsake  (RV.),  but  is  more  forcible,  =  reject.  —  21.  Synonymous, 
ternary-binary.  In  3"  the  teacher's  law  is  to  be  written  on  the 
tablets  of  the  heart ;  here,  with  a  change  of  figure,  it  is  to  be 
firmly  attached  to  the  heart,  which  is  the  seat  of  thought  and 
moral  and  religious  life.  The  figure  of  second  cl.  is  found  in  i^ 
3^--,  etc.  —  The  term  continually  is  used  of  perpetually  recurring 
or  repeated  acts  (as  the  daily  offering  in  the  temple),  and  so  = 
constantly,  ahvays,  all  the  time ;  see  Isa.  57''^  Jer.  52"  \\i  16*^.  The 
plu.  thcni  may  refer  to  precept  and  laiv  iyP)  taken  as  different 
things,  or  these  terms  may  have  been  plu.  in  the  original  Heb. 
text  (as  they  are  in  the  Greek). 

In  the  remainder  of  the  chapter  the  wording  and  arrangement 
present  difficulties.  The  sing,  pronoun  in  v.^^  points  to  wisdom 
(or  one  of  its  synonyms)  as  antecedent,  as,  in  fact,  in  chs.  1-9 
only  "wisdom"  watches  over  and  leads  (a^^-^--"*  4*^  y-*'')  ;  but,  as 
the  text  stands,  the  it  (or,  she)  of  v.^-  has  no  such  antecedent. 
We  might  (with  Bickell)  insert,  at  the  beginning  of  v.",  some 
such  line  as  taisdom  will  keep  thee ;  but  this  would  still  leave  the 
connection  between  v.^^  and  v.^*  unsatisfactory,  for  elsewhere  (2^^ 
7'')  it  is  not  precept  or  instruction  but  wisdom  or  discretion  that 
saves  from  the  harlot  and  other  destructive  persons.  Further, 
while  the  normal  arrangement  in  chs.  1-9  is  in  quatrains,  we  here 
have  two  natural  sextets,  v.^*"-^  and  v.^'"-^ ;  Bickell  gets  rid  of  the 
latter  of  these  by  omitting  v."^,  and  of  the  former  by  attaching 
v.^'*  to  v.^    (the  objection  to  this    procedure    is  stated   above). 


1 34  PROVERBS 

making  v.^^  a  quatrain.  —  Abetter  emendation  would  be  to  omit 
the  doubtful  couplets  v.^*^-^,  and  make  v.-^  a  couplet  by  the  omis- 
sion of  third  line ;  and  v.^^,  which  obviously  connects  itself  with 
the  first  couplet,  should  be  transposed  before  v.^^. 

22-25.  Wisdom  as  guide,  and  as  guard  against  the  harlot. 

23.  For  precept  is  a  lamp,  and  instruction  is  light, 
And  the  guidance  of  admonition  is  the  way  of  life. 

22.    When  thou  walkest  she  [Wisdom]  will  lead  thee, 
When  thou  liest  down  she  will  watch  over  thee.* 

24.  To  preserve  thee  from  the  « alien '  f  woman. 
From  the  wiles  of  the  stranger's  tongue; 

25.  Desire  not  her  beauty  in  thy  heart, 

Let  her  not  captivate  thee  with  her  eyes. 

23.  Synonymous,  quaternary.  The  discourse  here  turns  from 
parental  instruction  to  the  idea  of  instruction  and  law  in  general 
(retaining  the  two  terms  of  v."")  ;  the  two  categories  were  prob- 
ably considered  to  be  identical.  Precept  and  instruction  (syn- 
onyms) represent  the  teaching  of  the  sage  (cf.  4-),  held  to  be 
based  on  the  divine  law.  Guidance  (RV.  reproofs),  plu.  in  our 
Heb.  text,  is  sing,  in  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  Lat.,  and  a  number  of 
Heb.  MSS.,  and  throughout  Pr.,  except  here  and  29^ ;  for  the 
meaning  see  note  on  i"^ ;  and  on  admonition  see  note  on  i^.  Way 
of  life  is  the  course  of  a  long  and  prosperous  earthly  life,  and  the 
conduct  that  secures  it;  see  2'''  3-  5^  and  i/^  16",  and  for  similar 
expressions  see  Job  28'^  i/'  27^^  36^*'°'  Pr.  10"  13"  15^  al.  The 
Syr.  and  Targ.  have  guidance  ajid  instructioti ;  Grk.,  for  the  pre- 
cept of  law  is  a  lamp,  and  a  light  is  [or,  is  a  lamp  and  a  light,']  a 
way  of  life  and  guidance  and  instruction ;  the  Heb.  (taking 
guidance  as  subj.  in  second  cl.)  gives  a  more  natural  construction. 
—  22.  Parallels,  ternary.  Similar  imagery  in  3^^-^*  4^^;  in  (/^  91 
the  guidance,  here  referred  to  law  and  instruction  or  wisdom,  is 
ascribed  to  God.  The  she  (RV.  it)  can  hardly  be  understood  to 
refer  to  the  instructioti   of  v.^'^  (see  remark  above)  ;   the  writer 

*  Heb.  adds  :  ivhen  thou  ivakest,  she  will  talk  -with  thee  ;  see  note  on  this  verse 
below. 

t  Heb.  bad  (or,  evil). 


VI.  21-25  135 

passes  silently  to  zvisdom  as  subject,  or  else  something  (a  line  or  a 
couplet)  has  been  lost  from  the  text.  —  Some  commentators,  main- 
taining the  order  v."-  -^,  gain  an  antecedent  for  she  by  inserting  a 
line  as  first  line:  wisdom  will  (or,  shall)  guide  thee  (or,  keep 
thee),  or,  seek  wisdom,  forsake  it  not,  or,  as  second  line  :  wheji 
thou  rnnnest,  she  ivill  keep  thee ;  these  additions  make  a  quatrain 
of  the  verse.  The  present  unsymmetrical  form  may  also  be  got 
rid  of  by  omitting  the  third  line,  when  thou  wakest  she  will  talk 
with  thee,  which,  while  it  gives  an  intelligible  thought  in  itself, 
seems  unnecessary,  since  walking  and  lying  down  include  all  of 
one's  time  (cf.  3"^''*).  The  addition  may  have  been  made  by  a 
scribe  who,  taking  liest  down  (which  is  really  contrast  to  walkest ) 
as  =  slecpest,  thought  it  proper  to  complete  the  picture  by  intro- 
ducing aivaking.  The  verb  talk  is  here  strange  ;  we  expect  a  syn- 
onym of  lead.  —  If  we  keep  the  triplet,  the  meaning  is  :  wisdom 
will  guide  thee  in  thy  active  life  of  the  day,  guard  thee  while  thou 
liest  helpless  in  sleep,  and  at  thy  awaking  be  with  thee  to  utter 
words  of  advice.  —  24.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  special  theme 
of  the  section  :  the  adulteress  is  the  peril  against  which  the  aid  of 
wisdom  is  particularly  invoked.  In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  evil 
woman,  an  appropriate  description,  but  the  parallelism  suggests 
the  reading  the  wife  of  another  (requiring  the  change  of  one 
vowel),  as  in  the  Grk.  (^married  woman),  and  v."';  or  the  sense 
alien  (as  in  2^")  may  be  got  by  a  slight  change  of  consonants. 
Stranger,  as  in  5'  7^,  =  "  wife  of  another  man  "  ;  see  note  on  2'". 
The  harlot,  the  unmarried  licentious  woman  (or  the  professional 
prostitute),  is  mentioned  in  6-"  7'*'  23-"  29^,  but  is  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  unchaste  married  woman  (called  adulteress,  30-", 
and  stranger),  against  whom,  as  the  more  dangerous  pergon,  a  great 
part  of  chs.  1-9  is  directed.  She  is  the  more  guilty  of  the  two 
because  she  violates  the  marriage-vow  (2^')  ;  the  danger  from  her 
is  described  below.  See  note  on  2'^-  ^'' .  The  social  evil  here  por- 
trayed is  more  particularly  appropriate  to  the  postexihan  period  ; 
the  preexilian  shrine-prostitute  (Gen.  38-^"  Hos.  4"  Dt.  23''^^^^) 
belongs  to  a  very  different  sort  of  Israelitish  society.  —  25.  Syn- 
onymous, ternary-binary.  The  Heb.  connects  the  two  clauses  by 
and,  and  at  end  of  the  verse  has  eyelids  instead  of  eyes,  perhaps 
with  allusion  to   the  seductive  play  of  eyes  (winks,  etc.,  Vulg., 


I 36  PROVERBS 

nods),  but  the  term  is  generally  simply  equivalent  to  eyes,  Jer. 
gi8(i7)  Jq5  jgie  ^  jj4  Pj.^  ^25  54^  (,f_  3o'l  — Vulg.  /^/  not  thy  heart 

desire,  etc. ;  the  Grk.  interprets  first  cl.,  and  writes  second  cl.  in 
twofold  form  :  let  tiot  desire  of  beauty  overcome  thee,  neither  be 
thou  caught  by  thine  eyes  tior  captivated  by  her  eyelids. 

26.  Our  Heb.  text  next  gives  a  couplet  of  which  the  second  cl. 
(lit.  the  married  tvoman  hunts  for  the  precious  life)  presents  no 
difficulty;  for  the  expression  of  the  predicate  cf.  Ez.  13^*^-''. 
There  is  difference  of  opinion  among  expositors  as  to  whether  the 
harlot  of  first  cl.  is  synonymous  or  contrasted  with  the  married 
woman  of  second  cl. ;  the  latter  view  (which  is  that  of  the  Anc. 
Vrss.,  Ew.  al.)  is  favored  by  the  fact  that  the  two  terms  are  dis- 
tinctly contrasted  in  7^",  and  elsewhere  in  chs.  1-9  it  is  always  the 
stranger  (that  is,  married  woman)  against  whom  men  are  warned. 
If  this  view  be  adopted,  the  verse  does  not  condone  association 
with  harlots  (Now.),  but  simply  lays  stress  on  the  greater  harm- 
fulness  of  the  other  class  of  unchaste  women  (cf.  the  contrast 
between  the  thief  and  the  adulterer,  v."'^'-).  —  Text  and  transla- 
tion of  first  cl.  are  doubtful.  The  Heb.  reads  either /<7r  on  behalf 
of  a  harlot  to  [=  aj-  far  as^  a  loaf  of  bread,  or,  for  ifi  exchange 
for  a  harlot,  etc.  The  first  form  is  adopted  by  the  great  mass  of 
expositors,  who  then  take  on  behalf  ^  as  =  on  account  of  or  by 
meajis  of,  and  supply  the  expression  one  [or,  a  man^  is  brought 
down  [or,  comes  down'].*  The  objections  to  this  interpretation 
are  that  the  prep,  does  not  mean  on  account  of  or  by  means  of, 
and  that  the  assumed  omission  of  the  verb  is  hard  and  improb- 
able ;  the  prep,  may  be  changed  (Gr.,  Oort),  but  the  difficulty  of 
the  verb  is  not  thereby  removed.  The  second  form  appears  to 
have  been  adopted  by  the  Anc.  Vrss.  (Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  Vulg. 
and  also  Saad.),  which  translate  substantially:  for  the  price  of  a 
harlot  is  a  loaf  of  bread,  =  in  exchange  for  a  harlot  \_one  gives]  a 
loaf  of  bread,  in  which  the  insertion  makes  a  difficulty  as  in  the 
other  form,  and  the  sense  given  to  the  prep.,  though  found  else- 
where (Job  2"*),  is  here  unnatural  and  improbable;  this  rendering 
of  the  line  may,  however,  be  obtained  by  a  change  of  text.     The 

*  So  Rashi,  Aben  Ezra,  Schult.,  Hitz.,  De.,  Now.,  Reuss,  Zock.,  Noyes,  Str., 
Kamp.,  RV. 


VI.  25-26  137 

first  translation  declares  that  the  harlot  brings  a  man  to  poverty, 
while  the  married  woman  seeks  his  death  ;  the  second,  that  one 
pays  a  small  price  for  the  one,  a  great  price  for  the  other.  Either 
of  these  senses  of  first  cl.  is  intelligible  ;  the  first  agrees  better 
with  the  context,  in  which  the  theme  is  the  harm  wrought  by 
unchaste  women.  Poverty,  it  is  true,  is  usually  indicated  by 
morsel  (of  bread)  instead  of  loaf  {\f  28'-^  Oort),  but  in  i  S.  i"^ 
the  two  terms  appear  to  be  used  as  synonymous.  A  slight  change 
in  the  Heb.  gives  the  same  verb  in  the  two  lines  :  foi-  a  harlot 
hunts  just  (or,  only)  a  piece  of  bread.  This  gets  rid  of  some  of 
the  syntactical  and  other  difficulties,  and  the  resulting  form  has 
the  directness  and  homeliness  of  a  practical  aphorism  :  the  ordi- 
nary harlot  is  after  subsistence,  will  deprive  a  man  of  his  money, 
but  not  ruin  him ;  the  unchaste  married  woman  brings  on  him 
destructive  social  (and  possibly  legal)  punishment.  That  concu- 
binage did  not  bring  great  social  discredit  among  the  Jews  of  the 
third  century  B.C.  may  be  inferred  from  the  story  in  Jos.  Ant.  12, 
4,  6  ;  and  adultery  is  here  denounced  as  by  far  the  more  dan- 
gerous evil.  The  retribution  attending  it  is  loss  of  physical  life, 
either  at  the  hands  of  the  outraged  husband,  or  by  the  operation 
of  law  —  there  seems  to  be  no  allusion  to  loss  of  property,  or  to 
destruction  of  bodily  powers  by  dissipation  ;  see  notes  on  v.^-"^ 
(and  cf.  Geiger,  Urschrift,  p.  241).  —  The  couplet,  however,  in 
whatever  way  it  be  taken,  remains  obscure.  It  is  not  clear 
whether  the  two  clauses  describe  two  classes  of  women  or  only 
one  class ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory  translation  of 
the  first  clause.  The  verse  has  the  appearance  of  an  editorial  or 
scribal  addition  (gloss).     We  may  conjecturally  translate  : 

For  the  harlot  seeks  a  morsel  of  bread, 
But  the  adulteress  hunts  the  precious  hfe; 

or : 

For  the  price  of  a  harlot  is  a  morsel  of  bread. 
But  the  adulteress  hunts  the  precious  life. 

The  rest  of  the  chapter  deals  with  the  perils  which  beset  the 
adulterer:  first  an  illustration  (v.^"-^),  then  a  comparison  with 
another  crime  (v.^""^),  finally  the  ground  of  the  peril  (v.'^'**'). 
While  in  ch.  2  the  sage  describes  death  as  the  punishment  of  this 


138  PROVERBS 

sin,  and  in  ch.  5  loss  of  wealth  and  of  social  position,  he  here 
dwells  on  the  revenge  taken  by  the  husband  of  the  woman.  The 
moral  wrong  of  adultery  is  of  course  assumed ;  the  practical 
moralist  lays  stress  on  the  penalty  as  the  best  way  of  deterring 
men  from  the  commission  of  the  crime  in  question. 

27-29.    Illustrations  of  the  peril  of  adultery. 

27.  Can  one  take  fire  in  his  lap 
And  his  clothes  not  be  burned? 

28.  Or,  can  one  walk  on  hot  coals 
And  his  feet  not  be  scorched? 

So  with  him  who  has  commerce  with  another  man's  wife  — 
Whoso  touches  her  will  not  go  unpunished. 

27.  Question,  ternary.  The  same  term  is  used  in  Heb.  of  the 
breast  or  bosom  of  the  body  (5'"")  and  of  the  middle  portion  of 
the  outer  garment  in  which  things  were  kept  and  carried  and  on 
which  they  were  laid  (so  now  in  Syria  and  Egypt);  here  the  ref- 
erence is  not  to  the  bosom  (De.,  who  improperly  cites  Isa.  40"), 
but  to  the  lap  of  the  garment;  so  in  16^^  the  lot  is  cast  into  the 
lap.  —  28.  Question,  ternary.  For  coals  see  25"  26-^;  they  were 
of  wood  (cf.  i/f  120^);  in  Isa.  6"  a  different  word  is  used  {hot 
stone).  —  29.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Go  unpunished  or  be 
held  guiltless  or  free.  Though  the  statement  is  general  in  form, 
the  special  reference,  as  appears  probable  from  v.^°"^,  is  to  legal 
punishment,  or  to  the  husband's  vengeance ;  here,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  allusion  to  the 
enervating  effects  of  adultery  on  body  and  mind,  or  to  an  imme- 
diate divine  interposition.  It  is  implied  that  the  law  is  so  strict, 
or  the  husband  so  determined,  that  no  plea  offered  by  the  offender, 
such  as  provocation,  seduction  (v.^'*),  or  the  notorious  character 
of  the  woman,  will  be  accepted.  The  character  of  tribunal  and 
punishment  is  not  stated.*  —  The  couplet  gives  a  natural  exposi- 
tion of  the  illustrations  of  v.-"-^^  but  it  may  be  omitted  without 
detriment  to  the  sense,  the  consequence  being  stated  in  v.^'''. 

30-35.  Another  illustration  of  the  folly  of  adultery,  derived 
from  a  comparison  between  the  adulterer  and  the  man  who  steals 

*  See  note  on  ^'^. 


VI.  26-31  139 

to  satisfy  hunger.  The  latter  may  get  off  by  a  private  money- 
payment  (v.^°-^^),  the  former,  by  reason  of  the  husband's  jealousy, 
cannot  make  such  compensation,  is  forever  disgraced  (v.^-"'^),  and 
apparently  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  law. 

30.  Men  do  [it  is  true]  despise  a  thief  if  he  steal 
To  satisfy  his  appetite  when  he  is  hungry; 

31.  And,  being  caught,  he  must  restore  sevenfold, 
Must  give  all  the  effects  of  his  house. 

32.  But  he  who  commits  adultery  is  devoid  of  sense. 
He  destroys  himself  who  so  acts. 

^^.    Blows  and  disgrace  he  will  get, 

And  his  ignominy  will  not  be  wiped  away. 

34.  For  jealousy  is  fury  in  a  man, 

And  he  will  not  have  pity  in  the  day  of  vengeance; 

35.  He  will  not  accept  any  ransom, 

Nor  be  content  though  thou  give  many  gifts. 

30,  31.  The  first  couplet  is  a  single  sentence,  ternary  ;  the  sec- 
ond is  synonymous,  ternary.  The  Heb.  reads  :  men  do  not  despise 
the  thief  if  he  steal,  etc.  This  has  been  understood  to  mean  that 
one  who  is  driven  by  hunger  to  steal  is  pitied  but  not  despised  — 
his  offence  is  not  condoned,  but  he  does  not  of  necessity  lose 
social  position,  and  (v.^^)  he  recovers  legal  standing  by  making 
compensation.*  No  doubt  moralists  are  disposed  to  make  allow- 
ance for  such  cases  of  theft ;  but  there  is  no  trace  of  this  leniency 
in  OT.  (in  Jer.  2-"  the  thief  is  disgraced),  and  moreover,  the  sage 
here  (v.'^')  forgets  or  ignores  the  thief's  poverty,  and  represents 
him  as  a  man  of  property.  To  avoid  this  discrepancy  some  com- 
mentators (Now.,  Str.)  regard  the  two  couplets  as  describing  two 
different  cases,  that  of  the  hungry  thief,  who  is  not  despised,  and 
that  of  the  ordinary  thief,  who  has  to  make  restitution,  the  two 
categories  corresponding  respectively  to  v.^-*^  (disgrace)  and  v.^*-^ 
(no  money-compensation).  We  should  thus  have  the  contrast: 
"  a  thief  may  escape  disgrace,  or  may  get  off  by  payment  cf 
money ;  an  adulterer  does  not  escape  disgrace,  or  get  off  by  such 
payment."  This  contrast  is  not  expressed  in  the  text  —  there  is 
no  change  of  subject  in  v.^"-^';  and  there  is,  further,  the  doubt 

*  Cf.  Loewenstein,  Die  Proverbieu  Saloinos  (1838),  on  this  verse. 


I40  PROVERBS 

whether  this  lenient  view  of  the  hungry  thief  is  probable.  —  The 
first  couplet  may  be  read  as  a  question  (Hitz.,  Frank.,  al.) :  do  not 
men  despise,  etc.  ?,  =  men  despise,  etc.  The  contrast  will  then  be  : 
"  a  thief  suffers  disgrace,  but  escapes  with  loss  of  money ;  an 
adulterer  gets  disgrace  and  blows,  and  no  money-payment  atones 
for  his  offence."  This  seems  to  be  the  better  interpretation  of 
the  contrasted  fortunes  of  thief  and  adulterer.  The  discrepancy 
between  v.^"  and  v.^^  remains  ;  it  must  be  regarded  as  an  over- 
sight of  the  author,  or  the  Heb.  text  must  be  so  changed  as  to 
indicate  the  two  classes  of  thieves  referred  to  above. — The  ren- 
dering :  men  do  not  overlook  a  thief  though  lie  steal,  etc.  (Ew., 
Zock.,  Noyes)  is  not  warranted  (the  verb  does  not  mean  overlook), 
and  loses  the  main  contrast  of  the  paragraph.  —  The  similar  phra- 
seology in  Cant.  S'',  if  one  should  offer  to  give  all  the  substance  of 
his  house  for  love,  he  would  be  utterly  despised  (that  is,  his  offer, 
would  be  rejected  with  contempt),  might  suggest  the  translation: 
men  do  not  contemptuously  repulse  (  =  refect  the  offer  of)  a  thief  if, 
stealing  to  satisfy  appetite  and  being  caught,  he  offer  to  restore,  etc. ; 
but  this  is  hardly  a  natural  rendering  of  the  Hebrew.  —  In  the 
earliest  law-book  the  rule  is  that  the  thief,  when  caught,  shall  pay, 
according  to  circumstances,  double,  fourfold,  or  fivefold  (Ex.  22^- ^-^ 
[21"'"  2  2^-^]),  and  there  are  similar  rules  for  fraud  (Ex.  22^**^ 
Lev.  6^"*  [S"""'^])  ;  on  payment  of  the  mulct  the  thief  recovered 
legal  standing.  The  sevenfold  in  our  passage  points,  perhaps,  to 
a  change  in  the  law,  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  reference  is 
not  to  a  legal  penalty,  but  to  a  private  arrangement  with  the 
injured  person,  and  that  the  seven  is  a  round  number,  =  very 
large;  the  "  sevenfold  restitution  "  is  then  explained  as  possibly 
amounting  to  all  the  effects  (or,  substance)  of  his  house. — The 
phrase  when  he  is  hungry  is  omitted  by  Bickell  as  a  gloss ;  it  is 
not  logically  necessary,  but  is  a  not  unnatural  poetical  expansion. 
—  The  Heb.  terms  rendered  steal  and  thief  involve  secrecy  and 
not  violence  or  malignancy  (2  Sam.  19^^'^^  Hos.  7^  Joel  2^  Job  V")  ; 
for  violent  procedure  other  words*  are  employed.  —  V.^'"  is  ren- 
dered in  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  it  is  not  wonderful  if,  etc. ;  Vulg.  it  is 
no  great  offence,  etc. ;  these  translations  inay  be  free  renderings  of 


VI.  31-33  141 

our  Heb.  text.  —  32-35.  The  folly  of  the  adulterer  in  provoking 
the  wrath  of  the  injured  husband.  —  32.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
He  is  a  fool  {devoid  of  sense,  lit.  of  mind  or  heart)  because  he 
destroys  himself;  how  this  is  done  is  indicated  in  the  following 
verses.  The  rendering  destroys  his  own  soul  (RV.  al.)  conveys  a 
wrong  impression  by  suggesting  moral  and  spiritual  depravation 
and  destruction  —  an  idea  correct  in  itself,  but  not  here  expressed. 
The  writer  doubtless  held  adultery  to  be  a  crime  against  society 
and  against  the  adulterer's  own  moral  being  ;  but,  instead  of  speak- 
ing of  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  purity  of  the  family  and  the 
individual  (considerations  which  generally  have  little  force  against 
passion),  he  employs  what  he  regards  as  the  most  effective  argu- 
ment —  the  appeal  to  self-interest :  an  adulterer,  he  says,  is  (even 
compared  with  a  thief)  a  fool.  —  The  second  cl.  may  be  rendered 
(but  not  so  well)  he  who  zvould  destroy  himself  so  acts  (Targ., 
RV.),  or,  with  slight  change  of  text,  he  works  destructiotifor  him- 
self {Grk.  Vulg.).  —  33.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  retribution 
follows.  According  to  the  old  law  the  punishment  of  adultery 
was  death  for  both  parties  (Dt.  22""-^  Lev.  20^";  cf.  Ez.  23'*^''  — 
the  character  of  the  penalty  in  the  old  ordeal  of  Nu.  5""-"^  is  doubt- 
ful) .  Later  the  rigor  of  the  law  appears  to  have  been  relaxed ; 
in  Ben-Sira  23^^-^  nothing  is  said  of  death,  and  Jno.  8^  seems  to 
recognize  the  possibility  of  other  than  capital  punishment  (as  in 
fact  the  woman  goes  free).  In  our  verse  (as  in  v.^^)  it  may  be 
that  it  is  not  legal  punishment  that  is  meant.  The  outraged  hus- 
band might  prefer  not  to  parade  his  wrong  in  the  courts  —  he 
might  deal  with  the  offender  himself  by  the  simple  method  of 
bodily  chastisement  {blorvs),  though  this  was  possibly  a  public 
form  of  punishment  (cf.  BS.  23-^).  In  any  case,  as  the  thing 
became  known,  the  criminal  would  suffer  indelible  ignominy.  —  As 
the  paragraph  is  dealing  particularly  with  the  male  offender,  there 
is  no  reference  to  the  penalty  which  might  be  inflicted  on  the 
woman.  In  later  times  divorce,  either  public  or  private  (cf. 
Mt.  i'^),  lay  within  the  power  of  the  husband,  and  it  is  probable 
that  this  mode  of  redress  existed  when  our  chapter  was  written, 
and  is  here  assumed  as  possible.  But  the  moral  interests  of  the 
unchaste  woman  are  not  considered  in  chs.  1-9  ;  she  is  treated 
simply  as  an  evil  to  be  avoided,  and  was  in  law  largely  a  chattel  of 


142  PROVERBS 

the  husband.  In  the  regard  of  showing  no  sympathy  with  the 
unchaste  woman  Prov.  is  not  pecuhar  —  it  has  been  the  general 
rule  in  most  communities  up  to  the  present  day.  The  feeling 
underlying  it  apparently  is  that  such  a  woman  is  merely  a  tempter, 
and  must  be  utterly  depraved.  Somewhat  higher  ethically  is  the 
sympathy  expressed  by  Ptahhetep,  Instructions,  §  37  (see  Art. 
Egypt.  Literature,  in  Library  of  the  Worlcfs  Best  Literature). — 
34.  Synonymous,  binary  (or,  binary-ternary) .  The  sense  of  first 
cl.  is  :  jealousy  enrages  a  jnan  (or  husband) ;  Grk. :  the  fury  (or, 
spirit)  of  her  husband  is  full  of  jealousy  ;  Vulg.  :  jealousy  a  fid  a 
man's  fmy  (or  a  man's  jealousy  and  fury)  will  not  spare,  etc.  On 
the  power  of  jealousy  see  14^"  27*  Cant.  8^.  The  day  of  vengeance 
may  be  either  private  or  legal.  The  sage  uses  the  common  fact 
of  the  husband's  rage  as  a  warning.  On  the  ordeal  of  Nu.  5  see 
note  on  preceding  verse.  On  the  power  of  the  Jewish  congrega- 
tion see  note  on  5".  —  35.  Synonymous,  ternary.  It  is  assumed 
that  the  adulterer  (like  the  thief,  v.'^^)  will  attempt  to  escape  pun- 
ishment, public  or  private,  by  the  payment  of  money  as  compen- 
sation or  bribe  —  either  the  law  allowed  such  compensation  at  the 
time,  or  it  is  supposed  that  the  husband  will  not  go  to  law.  Ran- 
sofn  (lit.  covering  of  a  fault)  is  the  general  term  for  anything 
offered  or  prescribed  in  lieu  of  punishment,  whether  as  legal  sat- 
isfaction (Ex.  21'"'  Nu.  35^^  Job  33-*  Pr.  13^  21^*)  or  as  bribe 
(Am.  5^-).  The  second  cl.  explains  that  the  compensation  here 
meant  is  in  money  or  its  equivalent.  The  general  case  is  here 
stated  ;  there  might  be  exceptions,  but  ordinarily  the  husband 
would  be  relentless,  and  the  adulterer  is  a  fool  to  run  such  a  risk 
—  the  thief  may  escape,  but  not  the  adulterer. 

20,  21.  Between  the  Heb.  sing,  nouns  and  the  Grk.  plu.  in  v.20  there  is 
little  to  choose.  —  |^  3^,  (g  ^vxv-  —  22.  On  the  inversion  of  v.^^- ^3  gge  note 
above  on  v.22-24.  |^  -|nK  nmn;  <5  (followed  in  part  by  S)  eirdyov  aiiTTjv  k. 
fiera  crov  eVrw,  =  "jriN  nnjn  (Jag.),  or  the  second  part  is  doublet,  =  inx  D-^np, 
IL  gradiantur  and  custodiant,  to  conform  the  number  to  that  of  v.^^.  Bi. 
inserts  at  beginning  i^sn  xn  dj  ncini;  see  note  above  on  v.22.  In  third  line 
@  is  free  rendering  of  |§.  —  For.|§  in^ii-n  Gr.  suggests  -[rr'a'ip.  —  23.  p?  plu. 
ninjin;  read  sing,  with  ©  e\e7xos,  but  i  (©  koC)  should  not  be  inserted  before 
iDiD;  Cl.  Al.  154^^  (cited  by  Lag.)  has  A^7x"-  ®  makes  two  clauses  instead 
of  three:  fin  \i5x''os  kvroKT]  v6fj,ov,  Kal  <pw$  656s  fco^s  /cai  eXeyxoi  Kal  iraideia; 
1^  is  preferable  on  grounds  of  sense  and  symmetry.     Gr.  y^n  niSD  and  mm 


VI.  33-VII.  143 

IDN.  —  24.  1^  i'"!,  (5  inrcivSpoi',  =  ^T  (Vog.),  adopted  by  Gr.,  Bi.;  to  this 
Baumg.  objects  that  the  word,  used  as  =  another,  always  has  the  suffix,  as  in 
v.^;  read  mt.  —  25.  In  "  <5  gives  free  rendering,  and  in  '^  has  doublet,  the 
original  having  dcpdoKixoh,  the  revision  ^Xe^dpwv  to  agree  with  j^  (Lag.). — 
IL  takes  1:1:1s  as  subj.  —  26.  f^  "ly^,  probably  taken  as  prep,  in  exchange  for, 
and  rendered  freely  in  all  Vrss. :  (S  Tt/xrj,  IL  pretium,  3C  n"Ct  (for  jim  price, 
Oort)  with  xn'^c  added  as  explanation,  Si  ni::n,  for  nvot  price  (but  cf.  Nold., 
in  Pink.);  Oort,  doubtfully,  io ;  read  ^s^  or  7\-\-i  hunts.  —  "^  ly,  omitted  by 
Bi.  (who  also  omits  nti'x),  read  in  by  Ew.,  Gr.,  and  one  or  the  other  of  these 
emendations  should  be  adopted.  —  Frank. :  zrb  133  i^j?  njt  nu'N  -yc)  13,  an 
appropriate  emendation,  after  (§iL  (though  it  would  be  better  to  omit  the 
second  in;'))  but  graphically  not  so  easy  as  the  one  above  proposed. — 
29.  Omitted  by  Bi.  without  explanation,  apparently  to  gain  a  simple  quatrain 
(v.2''-28),  he  having  above  (v.")  expanded  a  verse  (triplet)  into  a  quatrain; 
v.^^  is  a  natural,  though  not  necessary,  conclusion  to  v.-"-  -*;  it  might  be 
omitted  without  loss,  and  its  naturalness  might  account  for  its  insertion  as  a 
gloss.  —  The  form  of  |§  is  substantially  supported  by  the  Vrss.  —  30.  The 
Vrss.  suggest  no  emendation  of  |^,  of  which  they  give  free  translations;  see 
note  on  this  verse  above.  —  31.  D>np3C'  is  in  form  dual  of  the  fem.  (as  in  the 
second  numeral),  lit.  tzvo  sevens,  but  used  in  the  sense  sevens,  =  sevenfold ; 
for  a  different  view  see  M.  Heilprin,  Histor.  Poetry  of  the  Anc.  Hebrews,No\.  I. 
note  A.  pj  JH";  (5,  interpreting  correctly,  Soi)?  pvaeTai.  eavrbv.  —  32.  |^  reads 
lit.  he  who  destroys  himself  (3C  who  wishes  to  destroy,  etc.)  he  does  it,  or  better 
he  destroys  himself  zuho  does  it  (taking  Nin  as  in  apposition  with  n^nrc). 
(5  (followed  by  IL)  appears  to  render  freely,  so  that  its  Heb.  text  can  hardly 
be  conclusively  made  out.  It  improperly  takes  the  verse  as  a  single  sentence, 
writes  5t'  evdeiav  (=  nona?),  makes  'a  (or  nnrr:)  obj.  of  the  verb  in  which  it 
omits  suff.  (irepiiroieTrai),  and  apparently  omits  Nin  (omitted  by  Bi.).  |§ 
gives  a  good  sense  as  it  stands,  but  becomes  easier  if  we  omit  Nin  and  take 
njc;ji  as  rel.  clause.  —  33.  f§  >vxc%  (§  virocp^pei,  which  Lag.  emends  to  dTro<pi- 
pei,  prob.  =  |0,  not  xu'^  (cf.  the  different  rendering  of  NC''  in  v.^^).  —  At  end 
(S  adds  els  rbv  aiSiva,  probably  rhetorical  expansion,  but  Lag.  holds  that  aSiyS 
stood  in  ^  and  has  fallen  out  by  similarity  to  following  nna.i  x'^ ;  the  addition 
is  possible,  but  is  not  favored  by  the  rhythm;  Baumg.  compares  the  ncn  Sn  of 
^  109I*. — 34.  J^  ■^^J  PDn  ns'jp  13;  the  subj.  (as  the  connection  shows)  is 'p 
(as  in  Cant.  8^  'p  Sixiy^  nrp),  and  we  should  perhaps  expect  that  'J  would  be 
attached  to  it  and  not  to  'n,  though  the  present  form  is  intelligible.  <B,  badly, 
p.€(TTbs  yap  ^rjXov  dv/jibs  a.v8pbs  avrfjs,  taking  n  as  subj.  ®  =  ?^;  &  follows 
(S,  only  inverting  the  order  of  the  words,  and  omitting  avrrjs :  the  fury  of  a 
vian,  because  it  is  full  of  jealousy,  will  not  spare,  etc.  —  35.  (5  and  3L  render 
J^  freely,  and  independently  each  of  the  other. 

VII.    Warning   against  the   adulteress.  —  A   more   elaborate 
treatment  of  the  subject  of  2"^''^  5,  6-"^^,  and  similar  in  arrange- 


144  PROVERBS 

ment  to  these  subsections.  The  number  of  these  closely  similar 
addresses  suggests  that  the  section  chs.  1-9  is  a  compilation. — 
The  writer  counsels  obedience  to  his  word  (v.^"^),  that  is,  to  wisdom 
(v.'*),  that  it  may  preserve  the  pupil  from  the  adulteress  (v.^), 
whose  fatal  wiles  are  described  (v.^-"),  and  concludes  with  an 
appeal  to  avoid  her  (v.^'*"-'). 

1-5.   Wisdom  the  preserver  against  the  adulteress. 

1.  My  son,  keep  my  words, 

And  lay  up  my  commandments  with  thee. 

2.  Keep  my  commandments  and  live, 
And  my  law  as  the  apple  of  thine  eye. 

3.  Bind  them  on  thy  fingers. 

Write  them  on  the  tablet  of  thy  mind. 

4.  Say  unto  Wisdom :  "  Thou  art  my  sister," 
And  call  Understanding  kinswoman, 

5.  That  she  may  keep  thee  from  another's  wife. 
From  the  adulteress  with  her  enticing  speech. 

1,  2.  Both  couplets  are  synonymous,  ternary.  One  form  of  the 
standing  introductory  summons ;  see  3^  4^  etc.,  Ben-Sira  3^ 
Words,  commandments,  law  are  synonyms;  the  Impv.  ajid live  = 
and  thou  shall  live,  or  so  that  thou  mayest  live  (that  is,  live  long 
and  happily).  Apple  of  the  eye,  —  pupil  of  the  eye,  symbol  of 
most  delicate  and  precious  things,  here  and  in  Dt.  32^"  ^  ^f  ',  in 
Pr.  7^  20-"  =  centre,  core  ;  in  Lam.  2'*  daughter  of  the  eye  is 
equivalent  to  eye.  —  Between  our  v.  and  v.-  Grk.  has  my  son,  fear 
the  Lord  a?id  thou  shall  he  strong,  and  beside  him  fear  no  other,  in 
general  accordance  with  3^-^  14^*^  (cf.  Eccl.  5''"'),  but  out  of  keep- 
ing with  the  context  here,  in  which  the  point  is  obedience  to  the 
teacher  himself;  it  is  the  addition  of  a  scribe  or  an  editor  who 
thought  that  a  distinctly  religious  exhortation  should  be  here  intro- 
duced. Cf.  Racine,  Ath.  I.,  i  :  je  crains  Diet/,  cher  Abner,  et  n'ai 
point  d' autre  crainte.  —  3.  Synonymous,  binary  (or,  perhaps,  ter- 
nary). Nearly  identical  with  3^  6'^  As  the  hands  are  always  in 
sight,  the  finger  is  a  fit  reminder-place  ;  so  in  Dt.  6^  11^*  Ex.  13^®, 
which  our  verse  may  have  in  mind.  It  is  uncertain  how  long 
before  the  beginning  of  our  era  the  custom  existed  of  winding 
prayerbands  {totafoth,  tefillin,  phylacteries)  around  the  finger  and 


VII.  1-5  145 

arm;  the  earliest  reference  to  them  is  in  NT.  (Mt.  23'')  and 
Josephus  {Ant.  4,  8,  13).  From  i^  t,^  6"^  it  would  seem  more 
probable  that  the  allusion  here  is  to  a  ring,  probably  the  seal-ring 
(Gen.  38^'^  Jer.  22-''  Cant.  8'')  which  appears  to  have  been  com- 
monly worn  by  men ;  the  same  verb  bind  is  used  in  3^  of  a  neck- 
lace. In  second  cl.  the  allusion  is  probably  not  to  the  command 
(Dt.  6^)  to  write  the  law  on  doorposts  and  gates,  but  to  the  tab- 
lets of  the  law,  or  to  inscribed  tablets  in  general.  In  any  case  it 
is  inward  recognition  of  law  that  is  enjoined,  and  the  law  is  that 
not  of  Moses,  but  of  the  sage  himself.* — 4.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. Expression  of  closest  intimacy.  Kinswoman  involves  the 
idea  of  intimate  friendship ;  in  Ru.  2^  3^  (the  only  other  places 
in  which  the  term  occurs)  the  point  is  the  obhgation  of  kinship. 
Grk. :  say  that  Wisdom  is  thy  sister  and  gain  the  friendship  of 
Understanding  (lit.  gain  Understanding  as  friend),  in  which  the 
parallelism  {say  .  .  .  gain)  is  not  so  good  as  in  the  Heb. — 
5.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  woman  is  described  in  both  clauses 
in  the  Heb.  as  Stranger,  that  is,  another  man's  wife,  and  therefore, 
in  this  connection,  an  adulteress.  The  final  clause  is  lit.  who 
makes  smooth  her  words,  =  "  uses  enticing  words."  The  verse  is 
substantially  identical  with  2^^  6-*  (on  which  see  notes),  and  is  on 
that  account  omitted  by  Bickell ;  but,  though  not  necessary,  it 
gives  a  natural  and  desirable  connection  between  the  exhortation 
(v.^~*)  and  the  description  (v.^-^) .  It  is  possible  that  these  two 
paragraphs  were  composed  independently  of  each  other  —  in  that 
case  v.^  is  the  insertion  of  the  compiler,  and  should  therefore  be 
retained. 

6-23.  Detailed  description  of  the  seductive  arts  of  the  adul- 
teress, and  of  their  fatal  result.  —  A  thoughtless  young  man, 
wandering  through  the  streets  at  night  (v.*'"^),  is  accosted  by  an 
impudent  woman,  a  frequenter  of  the  streets  (v.^'^^^*''),  who  invites 
him  to  go  to  her  house,  saying  that  she  has  prepared  a  feast  with 
all  pleasant  accompaniments,  and  that  her  husband  has  gone  away 
on  a  long  journey  (v.'^-'") ;  he  yields,  and  goes  unconsciously  to 
destruction  (v.-^"^).     The  description  differs  from   that  of   2^*''^^ 

*  Inscribed  objects  attached  to  the  person  were,  perhaps,  originally  amulets  or 
talismans;  cf.  notes  on  i^  33. 
L 


146  PROVERBS 

(which  merely  states  that  death  is  the  result  of  a  licentious  course) 
and  from  that  of  6-'*'^  (which  dwells  on  the  folly  of  this  sin)  in 
the  detailed  picture  it  gives  of  the  woman's  wiles.  Literary  skill 
is  shown  in  the  vivid  contrast  between  her  attractive  home,  the 
scene  of  luxurious  carousal,  and  the  wretched  death  that  follows. 
The  description  shows  acquaintance  with  the  later  city  hfe.  Cf. 
Ben-Sira9^«  19^  26^-124212^ 

6-9.  The  young  man. 

6.  For  at  the  window  of  my  house 
Through  my  lattice  I  looked  forth, 

7.  And  saw  among  the  youths,* 
A  young  man  void  of  sense, 

8.  Passing  along  the  street  near  her  corner. 
Walking  in  the  way  that  led  to  her  house, 

9.  In  the  evening  twilight, 

[Or]  in  the  darkness  of  the  dead  of  night. 

6.  Continuous,  ternary.  The  for,  introducing-  the  illustrative 
case,  follows  naturally  on  v.'',  less  well  on  v.*.  The  case  put  is 
represented  as  typical  —  the  suggestion  is  :  one  may  any  evening 
look  out  and  see,  etc.  —  In  first  line  we  should  perhaps  read  : 
through  (or,  out  of)  my  window  I  looked.  —  The  windows  of 
Oriental  houses  (like  those  of  Europe  some  centuries  ago)  are  not 
enclosed  with  glass,  but  have  trellis-work  of  wood  or  metal,  through 
which  a  person  standing  within  may  see  the  street  without  being 
seen  from  without ;  f  the  window  was  a  favorite  place  of  observa- 
tion (so  in  Thousand  and  One  Nights  frequently).  —  Grk.  repre- 
sents the  woman  as  the  observer  :  from  her  house  she  looks  oiit  of 
a  window  into  the  streets.  The  picture  of  her  as  on  the  watch 
for  her  prey  is  natural  and  effective  in  itself,  but  hardly  agrees 
with  v.i'^-i^  in  which  she  is  already  in  the  street ;  if  she  is  indoors 
in  v.^^,  we  should  expect  to  have  in  v.i° :  she  came  forth  and  met 
him  ;  the  woman  appears  to  be  introduced  as  a  new  personage  in 
v.i".  —  7.  Single  sentence  with  peculiar  rhythm,  the  first  line  con- 
sisting of  two  parallel  clauses,  with  their  completion  in  second 

*  Heb. :  and  saw  among  the  simple,  observed  amottg  the  youths. 
t  Ju.  528  2  S.  616  2  K.  930  Cant.  2^  ;  Aristoph.,  Thesmoph.,  797  ;  Livy,  24,  21  ; 
Vitruv.,  V.  6,  9. 


VII.  6-9  147 

line,  or  (if  the  second  line  be  begun  with  perceived')  the  second 
line  giving  a  parallel  to  first  line,  and  adding  the  completing 
phrase.  The  expression  of  the  Heb.,  saw  among  the  simple,  which 
introduces  a  tautology  {simple  =  void  of  setise)  should  be  omitted  ; 
the  couplet  will  then  be  a  single  sentence,  binary.  —  Simple  = 
void  of  understanding ;  see  note  on  i*.  —  8.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
A  corner,  as  in  Grk.,  is  hardly  better  than  Heb.  her  corner ;  the 
latter  expression  denotes  not  the  particular  place  at  which  she 
stands  (in  v.'-  she  does  not  confine  herself  to  one  spot),  but  the 
corner  near  which  her  house  is.  —  The  young  man  is  not  repre- 
sented (as  RV.  suggests)  as  going  to  her  house,  but  only  as  fol- 
lowing the  road  that  led  thither ;  he  is  strolling  aimlessly  within 
her  domain,  and  so  meets  her;  Ben-Sira  9^. warns  young  men 
against  such  nocturnal  strolling.  —  The  her  house  implies  that  she 
has  already  been  mentioned  ;  the  reference,  according  to  the  Heb. 
text,  is  to  v.^,  but  in  the  Grk.  text  more  naturally  to  v."  (see  note 
above). — 9.  Parallels,  ternary.  The  two  clauses,  as  they  stand 
in  the  Heb.,  giving  different  parts  of  the  night,  must  be  connected 
by  or  or  and ;  Grk.  :  in  the  evening-gloom,  when  there  is  quiet  of 
night  and  of  darkness  (different  text,  or  free  rendering),  which 
has  the  advantage  of  giving  unity  of  time  to  the  two  clauses.  Twi- 
light, the  dim  light  near  sunrise  or  sunset,  is  defined  by  evening. 
The  second  cl.  is  lit.  in  the  pupil  (  =  centre,  middle)  of  the  night 
and  darkness.  The  intention  of  the  Heb.  text  seems  to  be  to 
indicate  the  whole  period  of  darkness  during  which  people  were 
accustomed  to  walk  in  the  streets  :  from  twilight  to  midnight  one 
may  see  young  men  traversing  the  streets.  The  second  line  may 
perhaps  mean  :  in  the  darkness  of  co7npiete  flight  (so  RV.),  that  is, 
any  time  after  twilight.  —  In  the  early  evening  or  in  bright  star- 
light or  moonlight  figures  without  might  be  visible  from  a  window, 
and  torches  and  lanterns  were  sometimes  carried,  though  hardly 
by  the  persons  here  described ;  for  the  rest  the  description  is  im- 
aginative, though  no  doubt  based  on  personal  observation.  Roman 
youths  at  such  times  sometimes  wore  masks  (Juv.  6,  330). 

VII.  1.  On  the  added  v.  in  (@  see  note  above  on  v.i  The  fact  that  it 
appears  in  no  other  Vrss.  exc.  S>^  throws  no  light  on  its  date;  such  additions 
were  natural  for  a  long  period.  Ew.,  without  giving  reasons,  regards  the  v. 
(which  he  renders  into   Heb.)   as  genuine.  —  2.    Segol  with  Athnah  in  n>n 


148  PROVERBS 

bears  witness  to  the  phonetic  force  of  this  vowel.  —  pa'iK,  =  Arab,  insdn, 
apparently  a  human  (or  manlike)  thing ;  the  ending  on  {dn)  is  elsewhere  in 
O.T.  not  dimin.  but  general-relational;  Aram,  iln  is  diminutive,  p;;  'N  is  par- 
allel in  ^  17®  to  Jij?  n2  (perhaps  =  the  centre  or  principal  part  of  the  eye); 
the  Aram.  Vrss.  here  render  'n  by  Kn33  gate;  cf.  Ges.,  Thes.,  BDB.  — 1§  imin; 
(5  Toi)s  5e  e^oi>s  X670US,  as  if  it  read  nan,  or  ncN,  as  in  4^*^;  between  such 
variants  there  is  no  ground  of  choice. — 3.  For  |^  njjaxN  5,  by  scribal  in- 
advertence, has  lis,  as  in  3^.  —  4.  |§  Nipn ;  <@  irepiiroirjcrai,  —  njpn  (Jag.) ; 
whether  @  had  nj'^an  (Jag.)  or  took  *?  in  |^  nji^S  as  sign  of  accus.  (Lag.)  can 
hardly  be  determined.  —  For  jj-ib  Oort  suggests  fem.  n;;-iD,  but  this  is  not  neces- 
sary.—  5.  ®  TTOfrjpds,  apparently  miswriting  of  Trdpvrjs  (Lag.);  cf.  (5  in  2^^. 
—  6,  7.  On  the  ist  pers.  in  the  vbs.  in  (5  see  note  on  these  vv.  above.  Oort 
suggests  ^nt23n  for  ino,  to  secure  fuller  parallelism,  and  Gr.  the  insertion  of 
njm  before  nyj;  S  has  3d  pers.  plu.  —  8.  J§  njfl;  the  masc.  form  of  the  noun 
is  found  only  here  and  Zech.  14}^.  —  pic'j  is  omitted  in  (B,  "^H'i^  in  &  (by  free 
translation  or  inadvertence).  For  nysi  @  has  XaXovvra,  error  of  Grk.  scribe; 
for  proposed  emendations  see  notes  of  Lag.,  Baumg.,  and  on  ^  cf.  Pink. — 
9.  The  Heb.  text  appears  to  offer  an  inverted  parallelism  (cf.  Schult.)  :  ^rj 
(degree  of  light),  2■^•;  (part  of  the  day),  nS^S  ptj'w  (part  of  the  night),  nSoN 
(degree  of  darkness) ;  we  should  probably,  in  accord  with  the  preceding  ex- 
pressions, read  nSsNo.  (g,  however,  makes  two  phrases  of  the  v. :  ii>  a-Kdrei 
ecfwepLvQ,  ^  3"\y  'J3,  and  rjviKa  hv  rjirvx^O'  vvKTepiv^  kblI  yvo^codris,  =  J^,  except 
that  for  ]w>i<  it  seems  to  have  had  some  form  of  ja'^  skej>  (Schl.),  or  possibly 
of  tDpir  repose.  With  such  twofold  division  |^  would  read :  in  the  tiuilight  of 
evening,  in  the  depth  of  black  night. 

10-12.   The  woman. 

10.  And  lo,  ( the  '  woman  comes  to  meet  him. 
In  harlot's  dress,  and  wily  (?)  of  heart. 

11.  She  is  boisterous  and  a  <  gadabout  >  — 
Her  feet  rest  not  in  her  house  — 

12.  Now  she  is  in  the  street,  now  in  the  squares, 
And  she  lurks  at  every  corner. 

10.  Continuous,  ternary.  As  the  woman  is  referred  to  above 
(v.*),  the  def.  art.  (as  in  the  Grk.)  is  preferable  to  the  reading  of 
the  Heb.  {a  woman).  She  comes  to  meet  him  by  design,  not 
simply  meets  (or,  met)  him  (RV.).  Instead  of  dress  (or,  orna- 
ment)  Grk.  hzsform,  appearance,  a  sense  (=  mien)  which  perhaps 
better  suits  the  context,  in  which  the  woman's  character  is  de- 
scribed. Whether  harlots  at  this  time  wore  a  distinguishing  dress 
is  uncertain  (in  Gen.  38^*  it  is  the  veil  that  is  characteristic)  ;  the 
reference  is  perhaps  to  the  style  of  attire.      In  this  expression  the 


VII.  IO-I2  149 

woman  here  described  (the  married  woman)  is  technically  distin- 
guished from  the  harlot  proper  (who  was  unmarried). — The 
translation  wily  (RV.)  is  conjectural ;  other  proposed  renderings 
are  false  (Schult.),  inalicious  (Ew.,  Now.,  Kamp.,  etc.),  secret, 
hypoaitical  (Berth.,  Str.,  Stade),  excited  (Frank.),  subtle  (AV., 
De.)  ;  in  Isa.  48''  the  Heb.  word  appears  to  mean  hidden,  secret, 
and  here,  if  the  reading  be  correct,  some  such  sense  as  wily  suits 
the  connection.  Grk. :  causes  the  hearts  of  young  men  to  fly  away 
(or,  as  emended  by  Lag.,  causes  young  men  to  lose  their  heads)  ; 
Vulg. :  prepared  to  catch  souls.  These  renderings  may  represent 
our  Heb.,  or  may  rest  on  a  different  text ;  they  do  not  suggest 
any  satisfactory  emendation.  — 11.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Here 
also  the  adjectives  are  doubtful.  The  first  (which  occurs  again  in 
9^^^)  usually  expresses  excited  movement  and  noise  (i  K.  i"*^  Isa. 
2  2"),  and  may  here  refer  to  the  woman's  free,  boisterous  manner 
of  talking,  or  to  her  unrestrained  actions,  or  to  both  of  these  ; 
proposed  renderings  are  garrulous  (Vulg.),  loud,  clamoroits, 
excited,  vehement,  passionate,  boisterous,  of  which  the  last  appears 
best  to  reproduce  the  Heb.  term.  The  second  word,  as  it  stands 
in  our  Heb.  text,  means  rebellious,  selfwillcd,  luilful,  which  may 
be  understood  as  expressing  her  attitude  toward  her  husband,  her 
refusal  to  obey  him  and  stay  at  home  ;  a  slight  change  of  letters, 
however,  gives  the  sense  going  about,  gadding  about  (Vulg.  stroll- 
ing, cf.  Cant.  3-'',  where  the  maiden  and  the  watchmen  go  about 
the  city),  and  this  is  in  keeping  with  the  following  clauses.  The 
older  Greek  laws  forbad  free  women  to  leave  their  houses  after 
sunset,*  but  it  appears  from  this  passage  and  from  Cant.  3^  and 
Ben-Sira  (26^-^")  that  at  a  later  time  women  had  no  little  liberty 
of  movement,  and  part  of  the  duty  of  a  careful  husband  or  father 
was  to  keep  his  wife  or  daughter  indoors  (Ben-Sira  25^^,  cf.  i  Tim. 
5^^  Tit.  2^).  — 12.  Synonymous,  binary-  (or,  quaternary-)  ternary. 
Licentious  women  showed  themselves  freely  in  the  streets  and  in 
the  squares  or  open  places  at  gates  and  elsewhere  (see  note  on 
I-""'),  choosing  corners  particularly  as  convenient  places  for 
seeing  and  being  seen.  The  paragraph  is  a  vivid  description  of 
the  city  manners  of  the  later  time  (probably  third  cent.  B.C.). 
V."-^  are  of  the  nature  of  a  parenthesis. 

*  Becker,  Char.  468  f. 


I 50  PROVERBS 

10.  The  Art.  before  n^N  (found  in  (@)  has  dropped  out  by  reason  of  pre- 
ceding n.  Before  nNipS  there  is  usually  a  vb.  of  going,  but  this  is  sometimes 
omitted,  as  in  i  S.  lo^''  al.  —  The  signification  dress  for  nv^-  seems  to  be  assured 
by  i^i  73C;  after  (g  elSos  Hitz.,  Oort  suggest  a  form  of  r\\v  (8^1  26*  27^^).  If 
the  text-word  be  retained,  prep.  3  should  perh.  be  inserted  before  it.  —  |^  mxj 
3*^;  @  (foil,  by  S3r)  TToiet  vi<j}v  i^iTrracrdai  Kapdias  (the  viaiv  is  explanatory 
insertion),  as  if  from  -nj  (cf.  27^);  Lag.  emends  to  e^icraffdai  (Eur.  Bacch, 
850)  lose  one's  senses,  and  thinks  that  <§  had  pt'Ss  producing  a  whirl,  after 
Syr.  pis  (Castel.  755),  but  such  a  sense  is  proved  neither  in  Heb.  nor  in 
Aram.;  %  ad  capiendas  animas,  apparently  from  -\<'i  (Berth.,  cf.  Ez.  13'^''). 
There  is  no  satisfactory  derivation  for  the  text-word;  that  from  "\xj  {hidden, 
wily,  cf.  Isa.  48'')  seems  least  objectionable.  There  is  perh.  scribal  error;  we 
expect  some  word  like  a'pjjj  (28'^)  or  '7n3j  (8^)  or  a-\>'  (but  this  stem  is  em- 
ployed elsewhere  in  Pr.  only  in  good  sense),  and  see  the  expressions  in 
Eccl.  728.  'ich\x\\..,  Jictu  cordis,  from  ms,  in  sense  of  Arab.  ivi.  —  11.  ||J  m-no 
headstrong ;  (5  Hctuitos  projligaie  seems  to  represent  ^  (Lag.  improbably,  from 
n-iD);  read  ^•22^D  (cf.  Cant.  3^- 3),  %  vaga,  ST  NmnD.  —  12.  (5,  less  well  than 
1^,  divides  the  v.  at  l'in3,  after  which  it  inserts,  to  complete  the  parallelism, 
the  vb.  pifji^erai  roams. 

13-20.  Her  invitation:  she  assures  him  that  she  has  made 
special  preparations  to  receive  him. 

13.  So  she  seizes  him  and  kisses  him, 
With  impudent  look  says  to  him : 

14.  "A  vow-offering  was  due  from  me  — 
To-day  I  have  paid  my  vows  — 

15.  So  I  came  out  to  meet  thee. 

To  seek  thee  — and  I  have  found  thee. 

16.  I  have  spread  my  couch  with  coverlets, 
With  striped  cloths  of  Egyptian  yarn. 

17.  I  have  perfumed  my  bed  with  myrrh, 
With  aloes  and  with  cinnamon. 

18.  Come,  let  us,  till  morning,  take  our  fill  of  love, 
Let  us  take  our  pleasure  in  love. 

19.  For  my  husband  is  not  at  home. 
He  is  gone  on  a  long  journey; 

20.  He  took  a  bag  of  money  with  him. 

He  will  come  home  at  full-moon  feast." 

13.  Continuous,  binary-ternary.  This  free  procedure  may  have 
taken  place  in  a  retired  spot,  else  it  would  probably  not  have 
escaped  the  attention  of  the  poHce  ;  though  women  at  this  period 
had,  as  we  have  seen  (note  on  v."),  some  liberty  of  movement,  it 


VII.  13-14  15  I 

would  appear  from  Cant.  5'  that  the  night-watchmen  sometimes 
arrested  strolUng  women,  though  under  what  circumstances  does 
not  appear.  Watchers  on  city-walls  no  doubt  existed  from  of  old 
(Isa.  2i"-^^  62''  {j/  127'),  but  the  relatively  modern  night-patrol  is 
mentioned  only  m  Cant.  3^  5".  —  The  expression  wi/Zi  impudent 
(or,  wanton)  look  (lit.  puts  on  a  bold  face,  so  21-")  does  not  inti- 
mate that  the  woman  assumes  an  attitude  not  natural  to  her,  but 
simply  describes  her  meretricious  boldness.  — 14.  Protasis  and 
apodosis,  ternary.  Of  course  the  observer  at  the  window  does 
not  hear  the  long  and  probably  whispered  speech  that  follows 
^^14-20^  .  ^]^Q  writer  describes  a  common  scene.  —  The  woman 
(who  thus  appears  to  be  an  Israelite)  begins  by  telling  the  young 
man  that  her  payment  of  a  vow-offering  enabled  her  to  provide 
special  entertainment  at  this  time ;  the  feast  is  not  mentioned,  but, 
as  the  invariable  accompaniment  of  the  sacrifice,  is  taken  for 
granted;  we  might,  therefore,  render  :  I  have  a  sacrificial  feast 
at  my  house.  The  Heb.  term  here  rendered  offering  {shelem,  RV. 
peace-offering)  is  a  general  one  comprehending  several  varieties. 
It  signifies  primarily  wholeness,  soundness,  and  so  security,  friendly, 
peaceful  relations  with  the  deity,  or  the  payment  of  one's  obliga- 
tions to  the  deity  so  as  to  secure  his  friendship.*  As  a  technical  sac- 
rificial term  it  denotes  the  ordinary  offerings  made  freely  to  gain 
favor,  or  presented  in  gratitude  for  favors  bestowed  or  in  fulfil- 
ment of  a  vow  (see  the  different  sorts  in  Lev.  7^^""').  It  consisted 
always  of  flesh,  to  which  (at  least  in  the  later  ritual)  was  added 
flour,  oil,  and  wine  (Nu.  is"'^")  ;  and  of  the  animal  presented 
only  the  blood  and  the  fat  of  the  intestines  was  offered  on  the 
altar,  the  rest  was  eaten  by  the  worshippers.  The  shelem  thus 
differs  from  the  holocaust  (Heb.  ola,  RV.  burnt-offering)  which 
was  wholly  consumed  on  the  altar.  It  is  in  fact  the  old  sacrificial 
meal  of  the  family  or  clan,  which  was  of  a  festive  character  (Am. 
^21-23^ .  In  the  present  instance  its  occasion  is  a  vow  which  has 
just  been  fulfilled  {to-day)  ;  the  law  required  that  the  flesh  should 
be  eaten  on  the  day  of  offering  (Lev.  7'").  The  woman,  not  inat- 
tentive to  her  religious  duties  (and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 

*  The  same  stem  is  found  in  Arab.  Islam,  =  the  establishing  of  sound  relations 
with  God  by  submission,  resignatiojt ;  and  Moslem  =  one  who  is  resigned  to  God's 
will,  a  professor  of  Islam. 


152  PROVERBS 

that  she  herein  acted  otherwise  than  in  good  faith),  having  dis- 
charged her  vow  and  prepared  the  feast,  goes  out  to  seek  a  com- 
panion, and  pretends  to  the  youth  (it  seems  probable  that  it  is  a 
pretence)  that  she  has  come  expressly  to  find  him.  If  the  sacri- 
fice was  offered  on  an  altar,  the  scene  of  the  incident  is  doubtless 
Jerusalem ;  but  it  is  possible  that  the  Egyptian  Jews,  before  the 
building  of  the  Onias-temple  (b.c.  149),  maintained  customs  of 
vows  at  home,  dedication  being  substituted  for  actual  sacrifice. 
From  the  plu.  vows  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred  that  vows  were  suf- 
fered to  accumulate,  so  that  a  number  were  paid  at  one  time ;  and 
from  Eccl.  5'*'^  we  gather  that  there  was  sometimes  undue  delay  in 
paying,  so  that  it  became  necessary  for  the  priests  or  other  officers 
to  send  messengers  to  demand  payment.*  — 15.  Continuous,  ter- 
nary. The  so  (or,  therefore)  refers  to  the  festive  character  of  the 
occasion  :  "  as  I  have  prepared  an  excellent  table,  and  do  not  wish 
to  enjoy  it  alone,  therefore  I  have  come,"  etc.  To  seek  thee,  lit.  to 
seek  thy  face.  The  reading  proposed  by  Bickell,  that  I  might  find 
thee,  is  feeble  and  improbable.  —  The  two  next  verses  describe  the 
luxurious  appointments  of  the  woman's  house,  whence  (and  from 
^19.20^  it  may  be  inferred  that  her  husband  was  a  man  of  sub- 
stance, and  she  of  good  social  position.  — 16.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. Couch  is  properly  bedstead  (Dt.  3"  i//  132^),  elsewhere 
(Job  7^^)  used  also  for  the  whole  of  the  sleeping-furniture,  but 
here  apparently  for  the  structure  on  which  bed-clothing  is  spread. 
The  uncertainty  of  the  term  here  rendered  coverlets  appears  from 
the  diversity  of  the  translations  given  it :  Grk.,  Vulg.  cords ;  Syr. 
Targ.  beds  or  mattresses  (or  perh.,  cushioiis,  pillows')  ;  Aq.,  Theod. 
spreads;  and  these  renderings  (except  the  first)  are  variously 
adopted  by  modern  commentators.  The  word  occurs  elsewhere 
only  in  31-^,  where  it  seems  to  mean  some  sort  of  cloth-work 
(Grk.  is  here  doubtful,  Aq.,  Th.,  Vulg.  spreads,  Sym.  carpets  shaggy 
on  both  sides).  AV.  coverings  probably  gives  the  sense  of  the 
term  (RV.,  not  so  well,  carpets,  marg.  cushions),  but  the  addition 
of  tapestry  (=  embroidered)  is  without  support.  AV.  decked 
=  covered,  spread.  —  The  terms  in  second  cl.  must  also  describe 
some  sort  of  bed-clothing :    the  first  is  in  Grk.  carpets  shaggy  on 

*  On  the  later  regulations  respecting  delay  see  commentary  on  Dt.  2321-23  in 
J?os/i  ha.  Shanah,  5  b. 


VII.   i4-i8  153 

both  sides  ;  Syr.  Targ.,  spreads  or  carpets  ;  Vulg.  embroidered  car- 
pets ;  recent  commentators  generally  striped  (or,  party-colored) 
spreads  or  cloths.  The  second  term  represents  some  kind  of  ma- 
terial, stuff,  or,  as  the  word  signifies  in  Aram.,  yarn;  it  is  left 
untranslated  by  the  Anc.  Vrss.  (or  they  may  have  had  a  different 
word),  except  that  Theod.  has  marked  with  Egyptian  paintings. 
—  Across  the  ancient  Greek  bedstead  (which  was  usually  of  wood, 
sometimes  of  bronze)  were  stretched  girths  (cords)  which  sup- 
ported a  mattress,  and  on  this  were  spread  coverlets,  which  were 
sometimes  colored.  There  was  a  headboard,  and  sometimes  a 
footboard ;  at  the  former  were  placed  cushions  or  pillows.  This 
is  the  general  arrangement  here  referred  to,  though  the  precise 
significations  of  the  various  terms  are  doubtful.  —  The  mention  of 
Egyptian  material  may  indicate  that  the  section  was  not  written  in 
Egypt ;  commercial  intercourse  between  Egypt  and  Palestine  had 
existed  since  the  time  of  Solomon,  and  became  more  frequent 
after  the  settlement  of  the  Jews  in  Alexandria.  —  17.  Continuous, 
ternary-binary.  After  the  bedstead  was  spread  with  costly  cov- 
erings, the  bed,  thus  prepared,  was  perfumed  (lit.  sprinkled). 
The  aromatic  substances  here  named  are  frequently  mentioned  in 
OT.  (e.g.  Cant.  4^'*).  Myrrh  is  a  gum-resin  which  exudes  from 
the  Balsamodendron  Myrrha,  a  shrub  growing  in  Arabia  and 
Abyssinia  ;  it  is  reddish  brown  in  color,  has  an  agreeable  odor 
and  an  aromatic-bitter  taste ;  a  liquid  form  of  it  appears  to  be 
mentioned  in  Ex.  30-^  Cant.  5^ ;  for  its  use  in  the  preparation  of 
the  temple-oil  see  Ex.  30^-""''.  Aloes  is  the  fragrant  resin-gum  of 
Aloexylon  and  Aquilaria  ovata  of  Malacca  and  A.  agallochum 
of  Bengal.  Cinnamon  is  the  aromatic  bark  of  a  Ceylonese  tree ; 
it  was  an  ingredient  of  the  sacred  oil  of  the  Jews  (Ex.  30'""^')  • 
The  description  indicates  a  high  degree  of  luxury.  Among  the 
Israelites  ivory  couches  (or  divans)  were  used  by  the  rich  as  early 
as  the  eighth  cent.  B.C.  (Am.  6^),  but  the  perfumes  here  men- 
tioned appear  only  in  postexihan  writings  (Ex.  30,  Esth.,  \\i  45, 
Cant.,  Pr.)  ;  they  seem  to  have  become  known  to  the  Jews 
through  late  intercourse  with  foreign  peoples.  —  18.  Synonymous, 
quaternary-binary.  The  vbs.  express  fulness  of  enjoyment.  The 
first  {take  our  fill)  means  to  be  filled,  saturated  with  water  (Isa. 
55^*^),  with  blood  (Isa.  34' Jer.  46^°),  with  love   (here  and  5^^)  ; 


1 54  PROVERBS 

the  second  means  to  enjoy  one's  self,  Grk.  to  roll  in,  Targ.  give 
one's  self  up  to,  Vulg.,  Syr.  embrace.  — 19.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  reads  the  man,  an  expression  which  is  per- 
haps used  by  the  woman  in  a  slighting  way  instead  of  the  friendly 
my  husband,  as  if  she  would  say  :  the  man  who  owns  the  house, 
whom  I  happen  to  be  bound  to  but  do  not  care  for.  But  such  a 
refined  sneer  does  not  seem  very  probable,  and,  as  Grk.  has  my 
husband,  we  should  rather  so  read,  or  with  RV.  write  the  goodman. 
The  master  of  the  house  appears  to  be  a  rich  merchant,  called  on 
to  make  long  journeys,  as  was  the  custom  with  merchants  (Tob.  5^ 
9-  Mt.  13^^).  —  20.  Continuous,  ternary.  Time  is  reckoned  by 
feasts,  and  these  by  the  phases  of  the  moon  (so  now  frequently  in 
rural  communities,  even  where  the  solar  year  exists).  Fullmoon- 
feast  {ip  81'^^^')  is  the  middle  of  the  month  —  the  scene  occurs 
in  the  first  half  of  the  month,  and  the  intimation  is  that  some 
days  must  elapse  before  the  husband  can  return.  There  was  no 
fixed  day  for  paying  vows.  The  festival  referred  to  may  be  Pass- 
over or  Tabernacles. 

13.  On  the  r  rafatum  of  'riV}T\  (a  local  peculiarity  of  Masoretic  pronuncia- 
tion) see  De. 's  note  in  B-D. —  n^jQ  is  unnecessarily  omitted  by  Bi.,  apparently 
on  rhythmical  grounds.  — 14.  |§  qid*?^';  plu.  everywhere  except  Am.  t;'-^'^ 
(where  it  is  perh.  scribal  error),  nar  often  =  z'^z'  (Ex.  24^  cf.  Ez.  44"  with 
45^^),  here  =  slain  offering.  — 15.  The  Vrss.  have  free  renderings  of  |^.  On 
S2r  see  Pink.  — 16.  ^  ""a-i,  laic,  of  uncertain  meaning,  the  vb.  only  here,  the 
noun  here  and  31^2;  (gB  t^^^piq^  (^(gs-c.  a.  a  piu/)  r^raKa,  in  which  the  noun 
=  girths,  suggests  the  sense  bind  for  the  vb.  (as  in  lOT  chain.  Gen.  41*2  y,z. 
16^^,  and  in  Arab.),  but  in  31^2  (g  has  xKa.lva.%  mantles,  which  favors  the  render- 
ing coverlets  here ;  S>3C  have  stem  ^r,  AG  TrepLffTpivvpvijLL,  spread  \vi  vb.  and  noun ; 
IL  intexui  funibus,  the  noun  being  after  (§,  but  the  vb.  zveave,  appropriate  in 
31^2,  is  here  out  of  place.  The  weight  of  authority  appears  to  favor  the  sense 
spread.  —  nnan,  cf.  Arab.  3iDn.  Oort,  taking  it  as  rendered  by  (@  ea-rpwKa, 
emends  to  intsn,  but  the  Grk.  word  rather  represents  '^  p-JN,  read  as  Titan  or 
nas.  —  |it3N,  found  here  only,  is  possibly  a  foreign  word  (but  666v7)  linen  may 
be  a  loan-word  from  Sem.) ;  in  Jew.-Aram.  it  =  thread,  a  possible  sense  here, 
but  2r  has  another  term,  NDip  carpet,  perh.  =  stuff  woven  of  thread.  On  the 
form  see  01s.,  p.  335 ;  it  seems  unnecessary  to  regard  it  as  Aram.  —  17.  |^  "'PflJ 
sprinkle,  Qdl  only  here;  Bi.,  Hif.  inbjn  (cf.  \p  681'^),  Oort  'prjaj  (cf.  Cant.  5^); 
Gr.  insj,  from  ns:.  —  -\b  is  Semitic,  aiSnN  (cf.  Hind,  aghil,  Sanscr.  agurii) 
East  Indian,  and  Iic:p,  though  its  origin  is  uncertain,  is  probably  foreign.*  — 

*  Cf.  H.  Lewy,  Seinit.  Fremdworter  im  Griech. ;  C.  P.  G.  Scott,  Malayan  Words 
in  Eng.,  in  JAOS.,  Vol.  17. 


VII.  i8-2i  155 

18.  The  plu.  □m  and  0"'3nN  are  used  always  of  sensual  love.  Geiger,  Urschrift, 
p.  398,  reads  D"n  (see  5^^),  but  the  Mas.  form  is  better.  J§  nD'?ynj;  (5  ivKv- 
\i(TdC}fjL€v,  after  which  Oort  unnecessarily  emends  to  New-Heb.  n'^jj.'Pj  let  us 
wallow.  —  Bi.,  to  complete  his  scheme  of  quatrains,  adds  the  couplet  ^^ai 
D3JJ  □Jjyn  ipPDM  yi  nans  djtjj  —  the  woman,  he  holds,  according  to  v.-',  em- 
ployed argument  (np*?)  and  it  must  be  introduced  here;  but  her  persuasions 
are  sufficiently  given  in  v.^'*"-".  —  20.  nd;,  only  here  and  ^  81*  ("103).  Here 
^  has  M11J?  feast  (Rashi :  the  time  fixed  for  the  feast),  S  =  (S,  (5  5i'  T)iJ.€pCiv 
TToWQv  (perh.  free  transl.  —  Lag.  suggests  that  81  r)ti.  =  8LxotJ-'fivri),lL plenae 
lunae  (and  so  Bar  Ali,  cited  in  Ges.  Thes.'),  Saad.  day  of  sacrifice,  Aben  Ezra 
new  moon  ;  in  -^  81*  ^T  has  'Djnm  Nm\  %  nd:),  IL^  in  iiiedio  niense,  (5  emrniip 
favorable  (apparently  a  guess).  And  since  in  <S  ndd  stands  for  the  15th  day 
of  the  month  in  i  K.  12^'-^  and  for  the  23d  in  2  C.  7^',  the  word  appears  to 
mean  the  week  of  the  feast  from  the  middle  of  the  month  on,  and  so  either 
the  feast  (either  Passover  or  Tabernacles,  here  perhaps  the  latter,  ^  \(/  81* 
appears  to  interpret  it  as  the  former),  or  its  first  day.  On  the  form  see  01s. 
p.  256,  282.  The  word  seems  to  be  Aramaic,  but  its  etymology  is  uncertain  — 
prob.  not  from  stem  =  cover  (Ges.,  De.,  "  the  disk  of  the  moon  is  covered  with 
light"),  perh.  related  to  Arab.  HZ'2  latter  part,  and  =  second  half  of  the 
month,  and  so  the  festival  of  that  time;  ^  'Don?;  may  be  denom.  {the  month 
of^  the  ND:,  but  prob.  =  covered  (so  Rosh  ha.  Shanah  "]  b.  8  a).  Aben  Ezra's 
interpretation  is  against  this  derivation,  but  his  rendering  is  opposed  to  that 
of  earlier  authorities.  The  word,  however,  may  mean  simply  feast.  BDB. 
compares  As.  knseu  (see  De.,  Ass.  Handwb.  s.  v.  kusefi,  aqu),  full  moon  (as 
tiara  of  a  deity). 

21-23.  The  youth  yields  to  her  persuasions,  and  thus  goes  to 
his  death. 

21.  With  much  fair  speech  she  persuades  him. 
By  the  blandishment  of  her  lips  seduces  him. 

22.  So  enticed  he  follows  her. 

Like  an  ox  that  goes  to  slaughter. 

Like  a  <  calf  that  is  led  to  the  stall,' 
23^.    Like  a  bird  that  hastes  to  a  net, 
c.   Knowing  not  that  it  concerns  its  life, 
a.  Till  an  arrow  cleaves  its  liver. 

21.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Fair  speech  is  lit.  teachifig,  instruc- 
tion  (see  note  on  i^)  — designation  of  the  woman's  enticing  de- 
scription as  a  didactic  discourse  or  argument.  Persuades,  lit. 
causes  to  yield ;  blandishment  of  her  lips,  lit.  sjnoothness  of  her  lips  ; 
see  2''' 5'^  d-'*  f.  Seduces,  lit.  carries  off  (or,  away).  The  two 
verbs  are  employed  in  OT.  to  express  the  leading  away  of  Israel 
after  other  gods  than  Yahweh,  the  first,  for  ex.,  in  i  K.  11^,  the 


1 56  PROVERBS 

second  in  Dt.  13""^  The  two  clauses  do  not  involve  a  climax, 
but  are  identical  in  meaning.  —  22,  23.  The  text  is  corrupt  in 
individual  words,  and  there  is  probably  a  displacement  of  clauses. 
The  three  Unes  of  v."^  should  probably  stand  in  the  order  b  c  a ; 
in  v.^^  Bickell  further  follows  the  order  a  c  b.  The  two  verses  form 
three  couplets,  and  should  probably  be  divided  into  three  verses, 
in  the  order  ^^a- 1.^  22c.  m.^  23c.  a._  -pj^g  difference  of  length  of  lines  in 
the  Eng.  translation  does  not  exist  in  the  Heb.  —  22.  Compari- 
sons, ternary.  The  Heb.  reads  :  he  follows  her  suddenly,  as  an 
ox  that  goes  to  slaughter,  and  as  fetters  to  the  chastisement  of  a  fool, 
in  which  suddefily  is  inappropriate,  and  third  cl.  yields  no  sense ; 
Luther's  as  to  the  fetters  zvhere  fools  are  chastised  is  not  allowed 
by  the  Heb.,  and  lacks  the  fatal  character  which  the  connection 
requires ;  the  latter  objection  applies  to  the  inversion  of  AV. 
(adopted  by  De.,  Now.,  Str.)  as  a  fool  to  the  correction  of  the 
stocks  (or,  the  chastisement  of  fetters^  ;  the  rendering  one  i?i  fet- 
ters (Noyes,  RV.  marg.)  is  impossible,  and  there  is  no  sufficient 
evidence  that  the  Heb.  word  (031?)  witSLns  fetters  —  in  the  only 
other  place  in  which  it  occurs  in  OT.,  Isa.  3^^,  it  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  anklets  (and  in  Isa.  3^*"'  the  verb  shake  the  anklets  occurs), 
from  which  can  be  inferred  only  that  the  sense  fetters  is  possible 
(Schult. :  as  it  were,  with  head  bound  to  feet).  The  parallelism 
suggests  the  mention  of  an  animal,  and  so  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  as  a 
dog  to  bonds  ;  Vulg.  as  a  frolicsofne  lamb,  not  knowing  that  a  fool 
is  led  to  bonds.  The  rendering  as  a  calf  that  is  led  to  the  stall  is 
obtained  by  a  few  changes  in  the  Heb.  consonants ;  the  stalled 
calf  was  kept  for  slaughter  (Am.  6*  i  Sam.  28-'',  cf.  Pr.  15^')-  — 
Instead  of  suddenly  read,  with  Grk.,  enticed  or  deceived  or  per- 
suaded, according  to  the  stem  in  i^"  16^^  20^^  24^^  25^^  Jer.  20^ 
Job  31^  cf.  Hos.  7"  Job  5^.  —  The  verse  is  a  picture  of  the  brute- 
Hke  stupidity  with  which  the  man  goes  to  his  unforeseen  fate. 
The  death  (which  is  physical)  is  apparently  represented  as 
coming  not  by  violation  of  the  laws  of  temperance,  but  by  gen- 
eral dispensation  of  God  in  social  and  legal  penalties ;  cf.  i^^  2", 
etc.  There  is  no  reference  to  the  mode  of  death ;  the  descrip- 
tion resembles  that  in  ch.  2  (v.^'^^'')  more  than  those  in  chs.  5  and 
6.  —  23.  Comparison  and  consequence,  ternary.  As  the  text 
stands,  v.-^"  is  connected  with  the  preceding  context  ("  he  follows 


VII.  21-25  157 

her  as  an  ox,  etc.,  till  an  arrow  cleaves  his  liver"),  and  a  new 
comparison,  to  a  bird,  is  added.  We  gain  simplicity  by  transfer- 
ring the  third  Hne  to  the  end  of  the  verse  (so  Hitz.,  De.,  Bi., 
Frank.),  and  dividing  v.~-^  into  three  verses  so  as  to  read  accord- 
ing to  the  translation  given  above.  The  Heb.  order  is  given  in 
the  Anc.  Vrss.,  only  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  have  in  first  line  as  a  stag 
shot  in  the  liver  with  an  arrow  (in  which  stag  represents  the  last 
word  of  V.-"  of  the  Heb.).  The  third  couplet,  in  the  order  given 
above,  appears  to  refer  to  the  bird,  which  is  shot  as  it  approaches 
the  net  or  after  it  is  entrapped ;  a  similar  reference  to  the  igno- 
rance of  birds  is  made  in  i^".  —  Liver,  as  seat  of  hfe,  is  found 
only  here  and  Lam.  2",  elsewhere  only  in  ritual  procedures.  It  is 
common  in  Bab.- Assyrian.  Possibly  in  some  passages,  as  1//  16'', 
in  which  my  glory  —  myself,  we  should  read  my  liver  (parallel  to 
my  heart  or  my  soul). 

24-27.  Concluding  exhortation  against  the  woman,  based  on 
her  fatal  influence;   so  2^**-^'-' 5^  9^*^,  cf.  6^-"^^. 

24.  Now,  therefore,  <my  son,'  *  hearken  to  me, 
And  attend  to  the  words  of  my  mouth. 

25.  Turn  not  aside  to  her  ways, 
Go  not  astray  in  her  paths. 

26.  For  many  are  the  dead  she  has  cast  down, 
And  numerous  they  she  has  slain. 

27.  In  her  house  are  ways  to  Sheol, 
Going  down  to  the  chambers  of  Death. 

24.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  The  Heb.  has  plu.  sons, 
without  possess,  pron.,  in  this  verse,  and  sing,  in  v.-^" ;  the  change 
of  number  is  possible,  but  is  here  not  probable  ;  the  Grk.  has 
the  sing.,  and  this,  in  any  case,  is  better  in  an  English  trans- 
lation. —  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  sage  is  his  own  authority.  — 
25.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Lit.  let  not  thy  mind  \_heart~\ 
turn  aside,  in  which  thy  mind  (like  thy  soul  elsewhere)  =  thyself. 
Turn  aside  (found  elsewhere  only  in  4'''  Nu.  ^12.19.20,29^  noun  in 
Hos.  5^)  is  declining  from  the  right  way,  =  go  astray.  —  Many 
Heb.  MSS.  connect  the  two  lines  by  and.    Grk.  omits  second  line, 

*  The  Heb.  has  ye  children  (or,  sons^. 


158  PROVERBS 

probably  by  scribal  error ;  it  is  necessary  for  the  symmetry  of  the 
verse.  —  26.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  The  first  cl.  may  also 
be  rendered  :  for  many  she  has  cast  down  dead ;  the  translation 
given  above  is  favored  by  the  parallelism.  The  form  of  RV. :  she 
has  cast  doivn  many  wounded  is  not  permitted  by  the  Heb.,  and  the 
slain  of  second  cl.  requires  dead  instead  of  wounded.  —  In  second 
cl.  AV.  has  yea,  many  strong  men  have  been  slai?i  by  her,  RV., 
better,  yea,  all  her  slain  are  a  mighty  host.  The  reference  is  not 
to  the  strength  of  the  victims  (with  the  implication :  if  she  has 
slain  strong  men,  how  can  the  ordinary  man  expect  to  escape?), 
but,  as  appears  from  first  cl.,  to  their  number.  The  Heb.  word 
has  the  meaning  numerous  in  Am.  5^-  Zech.  8-  (//4o^''^'  al.  Second 
cl.  reads  in  the  Heb. :  and  numerous  are  all  her  slain,  in  which 
the  all  is  not  agreeable  to  Eng.  idiom,  and  probably  does  not 
belong  to  the  original  Heb.  text.  —  27.  Synonymous,  ternary- 
binary.  Heb.  lit.  her  house  is  ways  to  Sheol  (so  Schult.,  Ew., 
Frank.),  rendered  by  AV.,  RV.  her  house  is  the  way,  etc.,  by 
Reuss  is  in  the  way,  by  Hitz.,  De.,  Str.  is  a  multiplicity  of  ways, 
by  Now.,  Kamp.  is  full  of  ways.  The  sense  appears  to  be  that 
many  paths,  leading  to  the  Underworld,  issue  from  her  house  (cf. 
12^  14'-) — there  are  many  chances  of  death  from  association 
with  her.  The  penalty  referred  to  is  premature  physical  death, 
as  in  i^-  2"  5-^,  not  moral  depravation,  and  not  punishment  after 
death  ;  see  note  on  i^^.  Chambers  of  Death  —  simply  Sheol,  not 
the  private  rooms  of  the  Underworld,  its  most  distant  and  painful 
parts.  The  distinctions  in  Sheol  are  not  moral,  but  ritual  or 
social :  the  uncircumcised  and  those  who  descend  without  proper 
burial-rites  are  assigned  to  remote,  socially  inferior,  corners  (Ez. 
22I8-32*  jg^_  14^'^),  kings  and  great  warriors  sit  on  thrones  or  occupy 
other  prominent  positions  (Isa.  14^).  In  the  Babylonian  Under- 
world there  seems  to  be  some  sort  of  sevenfold  division  (see 
Descent  of  Ishtar),  the  significance  of  which  is  not  known.  No 
such  division  appears  in  OT.  (not  in  Dt.  32^^  1//  86^^)  — there  is 
mention  of  gates  (Isa.  38^°  i/'  9^^"  107^*  Job  38^^),  as  in  Baby- 
lonian,t  but  nof  of  courts,  streets  or  houses.      The  word  chamber 


*  Emended  text  in  Haupt's  Sacred  Books  of  ike  Old  Testament. 
t  The  bars  of  Job  17I6  is  doubtful  —  see  note  in  Budde's  Hiob. 


VII.  25-VIII.  159 

does,  indeed,  generally  stand  in  contrast  with  the  space  outside 
the  house  (court  or  street),  and  in  earthly  hfe  implies  privacy 
(Ju.  3-'*  2  K.  6'^)  ;  but  in  poetical  usage  it  appears  to  stand  (sing, 
or  plu.)  for  the  whole  of  a  given  place  or  space  (Job  (f  .37^).  If, 
however,  the  term  be  here  understood  to  imply  divisions  in  Sheol, 
these  (as  OT.  usage  shows)  are  not  connected  with  moral  differ- 
ences in  the  inhabitants. 

22.  |§  DNPS,  not  headlong  (Schult.)  but  suddenly;  (5  Kerr^uideU  cajoled 
(like  a  simpleton,  K^ircpos),  as  from  stem  nns;  some  form  of  this  stem  is  re- 
quired by  the  connection,  perh.  nnijj;  cf.  Job  31^  ncN  Sy  13S  nnoj  on;  graphi- 
cally 'J  might  easily  pass  into  's,  especially  if  a  in  latter  was  marked  by  a  line 
('nhd).  —  D3V,  here  yields  no  sense;  <3  kijwv,  =  j'-^d;  1L  aguus,  =  t'2:i;  read 
^yjJ.  —  iDia  correction;  (§  Secr/uoys,  =  nO'C,  better  than  ][^,  but  not  wholly  ap- 
propriate, since  it  does  not  naturally  correspond  to  the  parallel  noa;  it  may 
therefore  be  better  to  read  pane  stall  (see  note  on  this  v.  above),  though 
the  reading  of  (g  is  intelligible.  —  S^in  must  be  taken  as  vb.,  some  such  form 
as  Sail  (Gr.).  It  is  read  '?in  by  (5  and  transferred  to  next  v. :  ws  eXaipos  ro^ev- 
fxari  ireirXri'Yws.  —  23.  On  the  inversion  of  clauses  see  note  on  this  v.  above. 
The  order  of  ^  is  retained  by  the  Vrss.  —  24.  pj  C^J2;  (3,  better,  vU. — 
25.  On  tau";  see  Stade,  §  489/^,  and  cf.  Ew.  §  224  c.  —  CI.  2,  lacking  in  (3^,  is 
given  in  @^  '^-  ^-  ^,  H-P.  23,  68,  106  al.,  Compl.,  Aid.,  and,  according  to  &^, 
belongs  to  0;  the  omission  in  B  is  inadvertence.  —  26.  |^  □^'?'^n;  (g  freely 
Tpibcracra.  It  may  be  also  by  freedom  of  translation  that  (@  does  not  render 
^3;  but  this  word,  though  syntactically  possible,  and  not  unaccordant  with  the 
rhythm,  is  not  necessary,  and  is  in  any  case  naturally  omitted  in  an  Eng. 
translation.  —  27.  In  cl.  i  pj,  reproduced  by  (SBTiL,  is  possible  though  hard; 
S's  insertion  of  nmix,  =  ■'3T',  before  r^r\>2  is  no  doubt  explanatory  addition. 
Insertion  of  a  is  easy,  but  perh.  unnecessary.  —  J§  nm^;  @  Kardyovvai,  free 
rendering,  or  =  nnnic  (Lag.). 

VIII.  Exalted  function  of  Wisdom.  —  A  separate  discourse  (cf. 
j2o-33^^  consisting  of  two  closely  related  sections  (v.'^-^  and  v."'"'^') 
with  introduction  and  conclusion.  After  the  description  of  Wis- 
dom as  public  exhorter  (v.^"^)  comes  her  address,  in  the  first  sec- 
tion of  which  (v.^-^)  is  set  forth  her  high  character  and  honorable 
function  among  men  (she  utters  truth,  v.*"^,  and  confers  knowledge, 
riches,  and  honor,  v.'""-^),  and  in  the  second  (v.^-"^^)  her  position  as 
cherished  companion  of  Yahvveh  in  the  beginning  ;  the  conclusion 
states  the  happiness  of  those  who  obey  her  and  the  evil  fate  of 
those  who  reject  her  (v.^^"^^).  With  this  hymn  to  Wisdom  cf.  the 
hymns  to  Yaliweh,  <//  104.  107,  and  the  praise  of  Wisdom  in  Job  28, 


l6o  PROVERBS 

Ben-Sira  i^"^^  24,  Wisd.  Sol.  y^'-S-';  it  most  resembles  the  last  two 
passages  in  its  personification,  being  in  this  point  more  advanced 
than  the  description  in  Job. 

1-3.  Wisdom  stands  in  places  of  concourse,  and  cries  to  men. 

1.  Does  not  Wisdom  call? 

And  Understanding  utter  her  voice? 

2.  At  the  head  of  thoroughfares,  on  the  road, 
In  the  streets  she  takes  her  stand. 

3.  Beside  the  gateways,  at  the  portal  of  the  city, 
At  the  entrance  of  the  gates  she  cries  aloud. 

The  phrases  are  nearly  the  same  as  in  i-"-  -\  only  Wisdom  is  here 
dramatically  described  as  taking  her  stand.  —  1 .  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary (or,  binary-ternary).  Wisdotn  and  understanding  zxt  x^tw.- 
tical  in  meaning;  see  note  on  i^.  —  2.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The 
Heb.  reads  :  at  the  head  (or,  on  the  top)  of  high  places  o?i  (or, 
by)  the  road  (or,  way) ;  the  high  places  might  be  supposed  to  be 
the  walls  and  battlements  of  the  city,  or  benches  on  the  streets,  or 
the  platforms  of  the  shops,  which  in  Eastern  cities  are  slightly  ele- 
vated above  the  street,  and  would  permit  a  speaker  to  make  him- 
self visible  to  the  throng  of  bypassers  ;  but  we  know  of  no  such 
custom,  and  comparison  with  i-^  makes  it  probable  that  the  term 
here  =  thoroughfares  ;  cf.  9^-^*.  As  thoroughfares  are  called  noisy 
places  and  broad  places  (1^°-^),  so  they  may  be  called  high  places 
or  highways,  as  in  16^  (where,  however,  another  word  is  used)  ; 
cf.  Ju,  5^.  Parallel  to  this  is  the  expression  in  the  streets  (not,  as 
RV.,  where  the  paths  meet) .  Grk.  omits  on  the  road,  rendering 
v.^ :  on  the  lofty  summits  she  is,  amid  the  ways  she  stands;  the 
omitted  phrase  may  be  a  gloss  on  the  preceding  expression,  but 
something  seems  necessary  here,  and,  in  the  absence  of  anything 
better,  this  phrase  may  be  retained.  —  3.  Synonymous,  binary. 
While  v.^  thus  mentions  one  sort  of  public  place  (the  street),  v.^ 
gives  the  other  sort,  the  city-gates,  which  were  common  meeting- 
places  for  citizens,  like  the  Greek  agora  and  the  Roman  forum  ; 
see,  for  ex.,  Ju.  9=",  2  Sam.  15'',  Dt.  22^^  Jer.  17^  i/^  69^''i^'.  The 
three  expressions  here  used  are  merely  varied  ways  of  describing 
the  space  at  the  gates  where  men  met  to  talk.  For  the  second 
the  Heb.  has  the  mouth  (RV.  entry)  of  the  city ;  we  should  per- 


VIII.  1-5  i6i 

haps  read  /;/  front  of  the  city.  The  gates  (Ut.  doors)  are  the  open- 
ings in  the  gateways,  the  latter  being  elaborate  structures,  covered 
ways  with  a  door  at  each  extremity ;  for  the  full  phrase  door  of 
the  gateway  see  i-\  Jos.  8^^,  i  K.  22'",  Jer.  i'^  Ez.  81  The  couplet, 
thus,  does  not  mention  three  different  spots  (on  this  side,  on  that 
side,  and  within  the  gateway),  but  gives  only  one  place.  Wherever 
men  throng  thither  Wisdom  goes.  Instead  of  the  immediate  word 
of  Yahweh,  which  the  prophet  announces,  the  sage  proclaims  man's 
own  conviction  of  rational  life,  which,  however,  he  identifies  with 
the  will  of  God.  —  Bickell  omits  v.-"-  ^^  as  glosses,  and  thus  makes 
one  couplet  out  of  v.^-  ^  and  this  was  perhaps  the  original  form  : 

Does  not  Wisdom  call? 
And  Understanding  utter  her  voice? 
In  the  streets  she  takes  her  stand, 
At  the  gateways  cries  aloud. 

4-21.  The  teaching  and  the  rewards  of  Wisdom.  —  After  an 
introductory  appeal  to  men  (v.^-^),  the  section  falls  naturally  into 
two  main  parts,  first  (v.^"),  Wisdom's  ethical  excellence  (her  in- 
struction, v.'^^  her  superiority  over  silver,  etc.,  v."'  "),  and  second 
(v.i2. 14-21^  omitting  v.'^  as  scribal  insertion)  her  intellectual  emi- 
nence (she  enables  kings  to  rule  well,  v.^-- '"'"',  and  dispenses  riches 
and  honor  to  those  who  love  her,  v.''--^.  Cf.  Job  28^^'^  Ben- 
Sira  i"'^  Wisd.  Sol.  f^' Z\ 

4,  5.  The  appeal. 

4.  To  you,  O  men,  I  call. 

And  my  appeal  is  to  the  sons  of  men. 

5.  Learn,  O  ye  simple,  to  know  understanding. 
And,  ye  fools,  to  understand  wisdom. 

4.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  terms-  men  and  sons  of  men 
appear  to  mean  all  classes  of  men,  and  to  indicate  the  writer's 
view  of  the  universality  of  the  mission  of  Wisdom,  who  seeks  her 
disciples  among  Jews  and  Greeks,  learned  and  unlearned.  Ap- 
peal is  lit.  voice.  —  5.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit. :  comprehend, 
ye  simple,  discretion,  and,  ye  fooh,  comprehend  wisdom.  Wisdom 
is  the  sage's  ideal  scheme  of  life,  to  be  sought  by  those  who  have 
it  not ;  they  must  set  themselves  to  comprehend  its  nature.  On 
simple  dJi^fool  see  notes  on  i*  ".     The  Heb.  word  here  translated 

M 


l62  PROVERBS 

by  understanding  is  that  which  in  i''  is  rendered  by  sagacity  {orma) ; 
it  means  true  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  life.  The  significa- 
tion of  the  corresponding  term  in  cl.  2  (ht.  heart)  is  given  in 
Hos.  7^^ :  Ephraim  is  like  a  silly  dove,  without  setise.  The  coup- 
let may  be  rendered  :  Ye  inexperienced,  acquire  intelligefice  — ye 
thoughtless,  eynbrace  wisdom.  —  The  Latin  here  has  •svm'^Xy  ye  fools, 
give  heed  (=  set  your  mind  on),  which  does  not  maintain  the  par- 
allelism of  terms.  The  rendering  of  RV.,  be  ye  of  an  understatid- 
ing  heart,  does  not  give  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew,  in  which  the 
exhortation  is  not  understand  in  your  mind,  but  apprehend  and 
appropriate  the  idea  of  wisdom.  The  writer  accordingly  goes  on 
to  tell  what  wisdom  is. 

6-9.   Wisdom  declares  her  moral  excellence. 

6.  Hear  ye,  for  I  speak  >  verity,'  * 

And  the  utterance  of  my  lips  is  right. 

7.  Yea,  my  mouth  discourses  truth, 

And  I  false  lips  are  my  abomination.'  f 

8.  All  the  words  of  my  mouth  are  just, 
In  them  is  nothing  false  and  wrong. 

9.  They  are  all  true  to  those  who  understand, 
And  right  to  those  who  find  knowledge. 

These  verses  form  a  group  of  aphorisms,  all  saying  substantially 
the  same  thing,  with  variations  of  phraseology.  —  6.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Instead  of  verity  (lit.  verities)  the  Heb.  has  princes,  or 
perhaps  princely  {noble)  things  {^\ .  excellent  things) ,  a  term  here 
out  of  place  ;  a  slight  change  of  letters  gives  the  word  used  in  v.^% 
straightfomiard,  honest,  true  things,  corresponding  to  the  right  or 
right  things  in  the  second  clauses  of  v.''  and  v.^.  Utterance  is  lit- 
erally opening.  —  7.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  initial  particle, 
sometimes  =/t'r,  is  here  better  taken  as  asseverative  ;  v.' is  par- 
allel to,  not  explanatory  of,  v.®.  In  cl.  2  our  Heb.  has  and  wicked- 
ness is  an  abomination  to  my  lips,  in  which  the  lips  are  poetically 
described  as  rejecting  wickedness  with  horror ;  but  a  more  natural 
reading  is  suggested  by  12",  false  lips  ai-e  an  abomination  to 
Yahweh  (cf.  16'''),  and  Grk.  here  has  false  lips  are  an  abomina- 

*  Heb. :  excellent  things  (?). 

t  Heb. :  wickedness  is  abomination  to  my  lips. 


VIII.  5-IO  i63 

Hon  to  me;  the  change  of  sense  requires  no  great  change  in  the 
Hebrew.  —  8.  Synonymous,  binary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  Just, 
lit.  injustice  (RV.  in  ?'ighteousness)  =  in  accordance  with  rigJit 
(see  notes  on  i^  2^-^),  in  contrast  with  ihe  false  and  wivng  of  the 
second  clause,  synonymous  terms  whose  original,  physical  sense  is 
tiuisted  or  crooked ;  the  first  occurs  in  Pr.  only  here  (cf.  Job  5^^) ; 
on  the  second  see  note  on  2''. — 9.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The 
sense  right,  true  for  the  adj.  in  first  cl.  is  assured  by  2  Sam.  15'' 
Am.  3^"  Isa.  30'"  Prov.  24-",  and  the  second  adj.  is  identical  in 
meaning  with  that  of  v."''.  What  the  verse  says  is  not  that  Wis- 
dom's words  are  clear,  intelligible,  simple  to  the  instructed,*  but 
that  they  commend  themselves  as  true  ;  RV.  plain  is  ambiguous, 
being  =  either  level  (as  in  RV.  Isa.  40'*)  or  clear,  but  neither  of 
these  senses  is  correct.  —  The  verse  is  an  appeal  to  the  moral 
consciousness  of  men,  affirming  that  he  who  understands  the  true 
relations  of  hfe,  who  finds  (attains)  moral  knowledge,\v\\\  recognize 
the  truth  of  Wisdom's  words.  This  affirmation  stands  almost  alone 
in  OT.  In  Ez.  18"'  there  is  the  assumption  that  the  people  know 
in  their  hearts  that  Yahweh's  moral  procedure  is  right ;  here  we 
have  a  direct  recognition  of  the  insight  of  the  conscience.  How 
a  man  comes  to  understand  the  truth  the  sage  does  not  say.  His 
picture  is  objective  and  stative  :  the  world  is  divided  by  him  into 
the  two  classes  of  the  wise  and  the  fools,  and  it  depends  on  the 
man's  will  to  which  of  these  he  shall  belong.  In  the  NT.  the 
nearest  approach  to  this  conception  of  moral  classes  is  found  in 
the  Fourth  Gospel. 

10,  11.  The  sage  declares  the  preciousness  of  wisdom. 

10.  Take  ye  instruction  and  not  silver, 
And  knowledge  rather  than  choice  gold. 

11.  For  Wisdom  is  better  than  corals, 
With  her  no  treasures  can  compare. 

The  same  thought  is  found  in  3''^'",  on  which  see  notes ;  8"  is 
substantially  identical  with  3^^.  There  (and  so  8^^)  the  revenue  or 
outcome  of  wisdom  is  extolled,  here  wisdom  itself.  — 10.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.     The  Hebrew  has  t?iy  instruction,  but  the  simple 

*  Kamphausen,  and,  in  part,  Delitzsch. 


I 64  PROVERBS 

noun  (as  in  the  Grk.)  answers  better  to  the  knowledge  of  second  cl., 
and  to  the  wisdom  of  v.".  The  speaker  is  not  Wisdom,  but  the 
sage  :  the  most  desirable  thing  in  hfe,  he  says,  is  the  insight  which 
enables  one  to  order  one's  life  by  the  standard  of  truth  —  the 
point  of  view  is  that  not  of  the  prophets  and  psalmists,  but  of  the 
younger  school  of  Jewish  thinkers.  Cf.  4''"^  Choice  gold  \%  doubt- 
less the  same  as  the  fine  gold  of  3",  gold  valuable  by  the  gold- 
smith's standard.  The  word  rendered  choice  is  found,  in  OT.,  only 
in  Proverbs.*  — 11.  Synonymous,  ternary.  On  corals  see  note  on 
3^^.  Treasiires  is  literally  desirable  things  (as,  for  ex.,  in  Hag.  2^), 
a  general  term  including  all  things  held  to  be  valuable.  Instead 
of  can  compare  with  we  may  render  are  equal  to. 

13.  This  verse  is  not  here  in  place,  but  it  is  not  clear  where  it 
is  to  be  put.  It  not  only  interrupts  the  connection  between  v.^^ 
and  V."  (in  which  the  intellectual  excellence  of  wisdom  is  the 
theme),  but  its  tone  is  not  that  of  the  rest  of  the  chapter.  It 
differs  from  the  paragraph  v.*^^  (which  it  resembles  in  a  general 
way)  by  the  use  of  the  expression  the  fear  of  Yahweh ;  in  this 
paragraph  it  is  with  moral  insight,  and  not  with  religious  fear,  that 
the  writer  is  dealing,  and  elsewhere  in  Proverbs  i\\&  fear  of  Yahweh 
is  defined  only  in  general  terms  (as  =  wisdom,  i'  9^"  15'^,  or  as 
source  of  blessing,  10^''  14-^-^^  i9"'')j  I'^ot  by  a  specific  moral  con- 
tent (in  16''  men  depart  from  evil  by  the  fear  of  Yahweh).  Else- 
where in  this  chapter  Yahweh  is  spoken  of  only  in  his  relation  to 
Wisdom,  either  as  her  friend  (v.""'^^),  or  as  granting  favors  to  her 
friends  (v.^).  The  first  clause  of  the  verse  is  a  general  declara- 
tion which  (apart  from  the  difficulty  stated  above)  might  stand 
anywhere  in  the  section  io'-22"'';  it  is  omitted  by  Bickell  as  a 
gloss  summing  up  the  content  of  the  verse.  But  even  with  this 
omission  it  is  impossible  to  find  a  natural  place  for  the  verse  in 
this  chapter.  In  the  section  v."'''  the  theme  is  the  truthfulness 
of  the  instruction  of  Wisdom,  and  the  mention  of  pride  is  out  of 
place,  and  its  thought  has  no  special  relation  to  that  of  v.^'',  after 
which  it  is  put  by  Bickell.  We  must  therefore  conclude  that  the 
verse,  though  found  in  all  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  is  a  scribal  insertion. 

*  On  ancient  Semitic  methods  of  preparing  gold,  cf.  Rawlinson,  Phcenicia,  Ch.  10. 


VIII.  lo-ii,  13  165 

Many  such  aphorisms  were  doubtless  in  circulation  among  the 
learned,  and  were  occasionally  inserted  out  of  place.     Heb. : 

The  fear  of  Yahweh  is  hatred  of  evil. 
Pride  and  arrogancy, 

The  way  of  evil  and  the  mouth  of  falsehood 
Do  I  hate. 

Or,  omitting  the  first  line  : 

Pride  and  arrogance  and  sinful  life 
And  the  mouth  of  falsehood  I  hate. 

The  inconcinnity  of  the  two  parts  of  the  verse,  as  it  stands  in  the 
Heb.  text,  is  obvious  :  the  first  part  is  the  sage's  statement  of  the 
relation  of  religion  to  evil ;  the  second  part  is,  in  the  connection, 
Wisdom's  statement  of  her  attitude  toward  evil.  The  rhythmic 
arrangement  is  bad,  and  is  not  bettered  by  Grk. :  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  hates  unrighteousness  and  insolence  and  pride  and  the  ways 
of  wicked  men,  and  I  hate  the  corrupt  ways  of  bad  men.  On  the 
omission  of  first  line  see  above.  The  sentiment  of  the  verse  is  a 
familiar  one  in  Proverbs;  see  2^-  6'^"'^  11^  16".  Pride  and  arro- 
gancy are  identical  in  meaning ;  the  first  occurs  only  here  in  OT., 
the  second  is  found  in  16'^,  and  in  OT.  often  elsewhere.  On 
falsehood  (lit.  what  is  turned  away,  that  is,  from  truth)  see  notes 
on  2-"  6^\ 

VIII.  1.  ^  (which  IL  follows  exactly,  and  ^  with  one  variation)  is  sup- 
ported by  the  context.  (J|Bxa  o-|>  .  .  .  K-qpiJ^eLS  and  'iva  .  .  .  vwaKovcrri  (for 
nV-ip  inn);  Procop.,  with  H-P  23,  109,  147,  157,  295  Aid.,  Swo-i)  .  .  .  K-fjpv^ov, 
and  3C  has  nj^ti  ^rjs,  =  jd'?,  =  5i6.  Since  this  is  a  separate  discourse,  a  con- 
necting pS  is  improbable.  The  hatural  subject  in  ^  is  Wisdom's  utterance, 
and  the  inis  >'Dtt'n  of  (@  is  doubtless  scribal  error.  —  2.  "ill  iSy  is  omitted  by 
<!l,  but  the  rhythm  requires  some  word  here,  and  nothing  better  offers  itself 
Bi.  omits  these  and  the  two  preceding  words,  and  v.^^,  reading  (v.^-  3)  pi^ 
.pi  anPfl  Nac  n^xj  nbnj;  the  maintenance  of  the  full  form  of  pj  is  favored  by 
i2(j.  2i_  -pj^g  fiifficult  a^a^D  is  better  taken  as  the  equivalent  of  its  parallel 
mainj  of  second  cl.  1^  'a  ^'Xij,  <5  ewl  T(dvv\prjKQiv  dKpujv,  IL  in  summis  excel- 
sis  que  verticilnis.  ||J  n^a  is  scribal  error  for  tina  (v.^*^),  or  possibly  Aramaism. 
—  3.  1^  nnp  id'^;  (S  Sui'ao-r tDv,  perhaps  for  dar^wv  (Jag.),  ifl  is  used  of  the 
mouth  of  a  well  (Gen.  29^)  or  of  the  Underworld  (i/*  69^^(1"'  141")  or  of 
the  earth  (Gen.  4^^),  but  never  elsewhere  of  the  entrance  to  a  city.  %  jtixta 
portas  civitatis,  free  rendering,  possibly  reading  ijdS.  'p  ''cS  is  parallel  to  "Tiya 
in  I'^i  (on  which  see  note),  and  may  be  a  gloss;    Oort  suggests  riNnp  as  pos- 


1 66  PROVERBS 

sible  emendation.  The  two  passages,  i-O-i  8'"^  have  piobably  affected  each 
other,  and  it  is  difficult  to  restore  the  true  text,  nud  may  be  taken  as 
locative,  without  preposition. — 4.  |^  0''w"n  (elsewhere  only  Isa.  53^'/'  141*) 
here  =  □"<}<  ^:2,  =  S,v6p(>nroi;  the  distinction  which  seems  sometimes  to  be 
made  {\p  49^(3)  62"-'*i'^',  cf.  Isa.  2^),  between  mx  '2  and  B'vs  '2,  is  not  contem- 
plated here.  —  5.  |§  3^  iran,  @  ivdeffde  Kapdiav,  =  sS  u^sn,  to  which  the  ob- 
jection is  not  so  much  that  the  remote  object  is  not  expressed  (for  the  3*^  r^'y 
of  I  Sam.  4^''  offers  support  for  such  a  construction)  as  that  it  destroys  the 
parallelism  of  the  verse  —  :jS  corresponds  to  nm;'.  ■ — Q.  (B  elaaKoiia-aTi  fxov. — 
i§  oiT'jj,  as  adj.  dw.  \ey.,  possibly  (cf.  "iip,  in)  visible,  clear  (see  Schult.'s 
note),  but  probably  (from  i^Jj)  princely,  a  sense  here  inappropriate;  read 
□  \ijj,  as  in  v.^*  (so  Gratz)  ;  (5  atfxva.;  S^TIL  as  pj.- — ||J  nnsc,  elsewhere  key, 
here  opening  (abstract  noun  of  action) ;  (@  avo'i<jo3,  apparently  Pi.  Part.,  not 
so  well;  Oort  nisc,  from  the  door,  referring  to  Mic.  7^,  where,  however,  the 
phrase  is  different.  —  1.  |^  j,'::n  'noil'  n^]?'."^;  (§  ilSdeXvy/jLeva  ivavrlov  i/xou 
XetX'»7  ^enSij;  read 'T  ""rci'  ''':'  '^  (or  ■'Payir),in  accordance  with  12-^.  —  Before 
PON  Bi.  inserts  "'"^p"',  a  doubtful  betterment  of  the  rhythm.  —  9.  |^  has  Part.,  in 
first  cl.  sing.,  in  second  cl.  plu.;  (5,  better,  plu.  in  both.  — 10.  noic;  omit  suff., 
with  (5,  in  agreement  with  nyi  in  second  cl.  —  |^  •^%s'  (and  not  n*^)  on  account 
of  the  injunction  involved;  see  Ges.-'^,  §  152,  li,  Anm.  i.  —  In  •*  several  dif- 
ferent Grk.  readings  are  found:  (5^  =  1^;  (gBb(vid.)  ^^g^  ^g  doublet,  avre- 
peiadaL  (Clem.  Al.,  Procop.  avrepeideade,  read  dvOaipeTaOe)  5^  aladrjcrei  xpi^criou 
KaOapov,  (@^,  as  doublet,  dvTavaipeiadai  (read  dvdaipelcrOe)  aiad-qcLV  xP^'^o^ 
Kal  dpyvpLov;  the  readings  which  differ  from  flj  are  probably  nearer  the  Grk. 
original  (Lag.).  The  verb  was  inserted,  by  the  translator,  to  secure  sym- 
metry, or  (Lag.)  he  read  mnjj  as  pred.  of  nyi;   ||J  is  to  be  maintained. 

12,  14-16.  The  function  of  Wisdom  in  the  guidance  of  the 
rulers  of  the  world  through  her  control  of  intelligence.  —  With 
this  prominence  given  to  political  leaders  may  be  compared  the 
references  to  kings  in  other  parts  of  the  Book  (14'^  16^""'^  19^"-^^ 
22-^  24-*  25'""  29^"  30'^^  31^  a/.).  After  the  remark  of  the  sage  in 
^10.  n  Wisdom  now  resumes  her  discourse. 

12.    I,  Wisdom,  t  possess  >  *  intelligence, 
I  have  knowledge  and  insight. 

14.  With  me  is  counsel  and  skill. 
With  me  understanding  and  might. 

15.  By  me  kings  do  reign. 

And  rulers  administer  justice. 

16.  By  me  princes  govern, 

And  sovereigns  •  rule  '  t  the  earth. 

*  Heb. :  dwell  in.  t  Heb. :  all  the  rulers  {ox,  judges)  of. 


VIII.    12,   i4-i6  I07 

12.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Possess  is  emendation  of  the  Heh. 
inhabit,  which  is  here  unnatural.  The  statement  of  the  Heb.  is 
not  that  Wisdom  dwells,  in  friendly  alliance,  with  intelligence,  but 
that  she  dwells  ///  i-iitelligence,  an  unexampled  form  of  expression.* 
V.^-- "  obviously  set  forth  the  resources  of  Wisdom  ;  the  predicates 
all  state  what  she  has  at  command.  The  connection  calls  for  a 
word  expressing  ownership,  and  the  Peshita  and  the  Targum  have 
create,  which  is  apparently  the  rendering  of  the  Heb.  verb  (see  v.") 
which  means  both  create  and  possess ;  the  latter  term  fits  the  con- 
nection. Another  emendation  is  am  acquainted  with  (cf.  i//  139'^). 
In  second  cl.  the  verb,  lit.  find,  =  come  up07i,  come  into  possessio7i 
of  {%o  in  V.*').  On  intelligence  (or,  sagacity)  see  notes  on  i^*  8'. 
In  second  cl.  the  and,  lacking  in  the  Heb.,  is  properly  supplied 
by  RV. ;  the  combination  occurs  in  i'"'.  The  three  predicate 
nouns  are  synonyms.  — 14.  Synonymous,  binary-ternary,  or  bi- 
nary. In  second  cl.  and  is  lacking  in  the  Heb.  before  the  second 
noun  ;  this  being  supplied,  the  translation  is  :  /,  2mderstandi?ig  is 
mine  and  7night.  The  rendering  of  RV.  /  am  understanding  is 
out  of  keeping  with  the  context  and  with  the  usage  of  the  whole 
Book.  Counsel  is  advice,  and  the  knowledge  which  enables  one 
to  advise  profitably.  Skill  is  the  ability  so  to  arrange  things  as  to 
lead  to  the  desired  result ;  see  note  on  2".  Might  is  power  of 
thought,  and,  by  consequence,  of  action  ;  see  Isa.  11-  and  Job  12^^, 
passages  which  stand  in  some  relation  to  this.  —  The  predicates  in 
V.'--  '•*  are  synonyms  of  wisdom  ;  but  the  latter  conception  is  here 
personified,  and  endowed  with  all  the  qualities  that  are  connected 
with  it.  — 15,  16.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  rendering  above 
given  of  16''  (which  is  after  the  Grk.)  has  the  advantage  of  gaining 
symmetry  of  clauses.  The  Heb.  reads  and  sovereigns  (or,  nobles, 
or,  magnates'),  all  the  judges  of  the  earth.  A  similar  sequence 
occurs  in  \\j  148'^ :  kings  of  the  earth  and  all  peoples,  princes  and 
all  judges  of  the  earth;  in  the  psalm  it  is  natural,  v.^'-  being  com- 
posed entirely  of  groups  of  nouns,  with  the  verb  in  v.".  In  our 
passage  the  arrangement  is  different :  v.'^*-  '■'"'• "'''  consist  each  of 
subject  and  predicate;  the  predicate  is  simply  verb  in  v.^^*-^''^  in 
v.^^''  it  is  verb  and  noun,  and  this  form  we  expect  in  v.^^**.     The 

*  Cf.  the  appropriate  expression  of  i  Tim.  6io :  [God]  dwelling  in  light  un- 
approachable. 


I 68  PROVERBS 

Heb.  text  seems  here  to  have  been  asshiiilated  to  that  of  the 
psahii.  —  Administer  =■  decree.  —  Instead  of  earth  some  Vrss.  and 
Heb.  MSS.  have  justice,  which  is  probably  repetition,  by  scribal 
error,  from  end  of  preceding  verse.  —  The  rulers  of  the  world  are 
here  conceived  of  ideally  as  governing  by  wisdom.  The  writer's 
tone  is  friendly ;  it  is  that  of  a  man  who  looks  on  governments 
broadly,  as  institutions  of  life  to  be  controlled  by  the  laws  of 
human  knowledge  and  discretion.  He  thus  stands  in  contrast 
with  those  psalmists  who  regard  the  kings  of  the  earth  as  hostile 
to  Israel  (as  i/'  149^),  and  with  such  passages  as  Eccl.  10^,  in 
which  the  king  is  spoken  of  as  a  dread  personage  to  be  cautiously 
dealt  with.  Throughout  Proverbs  the  source  of  royal  success  is 
wisdom ;  in  the  Psalms  it  is  Yahweh  who  guides  the  earthly  rulers 
of  Israel  {^  144^"),  and  is  indeed  himself  Israel's  king  (10"^  2(f^  al.^. 

17-21.  The  first  half  of  the  chapter  concludes  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  earthly  rewards  of  "Wisdom.  Whatever  men  seek, 
riches  and  honor,  is  supplied  in  abundance  by  Wisdom  —  men 
will  consult  their  interests  in  seeking  her.  The  sage  appeals  to 
dominant  human  motives,  and  teaches  men  how  to  make  life 
a  success  in  the  worldly  sense.  Cf.  3'°-  ^'^'^.  V."  belongs  rather 
to  this  paragraph  than  to  the  preceding. 

17.  I  love  those  who  love  me, 
And  they  who  seek  me  find  me. 

18.  Riches  and  honor  are  with  me, 
Lordly  wealth  and  prosperity. 

19.  My  fruit  is  better  than  finest  gold, 
And  my  produce  than  choice  silver. 

20.  In  the  way  of  equity  I  walk. 
In  the  paths  of  justice, 

21.  To  endow  my  friends  with  wealth, 
And  fill  their  treasuries. 

17.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  On  the  rendering  seek,  v!\- 
%\.t2i^o{  seek  diligently  {ox,  early),  see  note  on  i-l  —  The  reciproc- 
ity expressed  in  first  cl.  is  not  real  (like  that  of  t//  ig^^- -"<-*'•  ^>),  but 
only  formal,  the  sense  being  that,  by  a  natural  law  of  mind,  only 
those  who  earnestly  desire  Wisdom  can  come  into  intimate  rela- 
tions with  her.     The  first  clause  states  the  attitude  of  mind,  the 


VIII.   i6-i8  169 

second  the  consequent  effort  —  the  two  are  mutually  complement- 
ary. It  is  assumed  that  men  may  naturally  desire  wisdom,  and 
that  search  for  it  is  always  successful.  The  sage  recognizes  to  the 
full  the  moral  responsibility  and  potency  of  man  ;  the  highest  gift 
of  life  is  within  every  man's  grasp.  His  thought  is  an  expanded 
and  refined  form  of  the  old-Hebrew  idea  (Ez.  18'').  Similar 
stress  is  laid  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  on  the  power  of  the  human 
desire  and  will  (Jno.  5''"jr  do  not  wish  to  come  to  me)  and  on  the 
attitude  of  mind  here  expressed  by  the  word  love  (Jno.  3^'-'  men 
loved  the  darkness  rather  than  the  light).  Cf.  note  on  v.^. — 
18.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  connection  shows  that  the  refer- 
ence is  to  earthly  honor  and  wealth,  (as  in  v.-^  3"^  al.).  Honor  is 
good  repute  in  the  eyes  of  men.  Lordly  =  s/>lendid,  or,  in  general, 
great,  Grk.  abundant,  Lat.  Vulg.  superb,  RV.  durable,  margin 
ancient  (that  is,  inherited  from  ancestors)  ;  the  word  appears  to 
mean  advanced,  eminent,  and  some  such  superlative  adjective  is 
suggested  by  the  connection,  but  the  sense  inherited  (Stade)  is 
not  appropriate.  —  The  term  here  translated  hy  prosperity  (np"il£) 
is  usually  rendered  hy  justice  or  righteousness.  It  signifies  prima- 
rily that  which  is  right,  true,  as  quality  of  a  fact  or  of  the  soul 
(the  English  y//y//V<?  has  the  same  double  sense).  In  its  most 
general  meaning,  in  accordance  with  propriety  or  with  the  facts  in 
the  case,  it  occurs  in  i  Sam.  26-^,  where  Yahweh  is  said  to  give 
every  man  his  due,  and  in  Joel  2-^,  where  Yahweh  gives  rain  in  just 
measure.  It  thus  comes  to  mean  Xht  just  measure  of  fortune  which 
is  meted  out  to  a  man,  for  example,  by  God,  and  then,  by  a  natu- 
ral transition,  the  good  decision  in  his  favor,  the  good  fortune 
awarded  him  —  sometimes  a  legal  decision  by  a  judge  (and  the 
judge  may  be  God).  It  expresses  Yahweh's  interpositions  on 
behalf  of  Israel  (Ju.  5"),  that  is,  his  (just)  decisions  in  their 
favor,  and  the  good  fortune  which  his  protection  insures  :  every 
tongue  that  enters  into  a  legal  contest  with  thee  thou  shall  get  the 
better  of  [=  procure  a  sentence  of  condemnation  on]  —  this  is  the 
lot  of  the  servants  of  YaJnveh,  and  their  fortune  awarded  by  me, 
says  Yahweh  (Isa.  54^0-  This  signification  comes  out  clearly  in 
i//  112,  which  is  a  description  of  the  happiness  of  the  man  who 
fears  Yahweh ;  his  happiness  is  based  on  earthly  prosperity,  and 
it  is  said  of  him,  among  other  things  (v.^)  :  wealth  and  riches  are 


170 


PROVERBS 


/;/  Jiis  house,  and  his  good  fortune  his ts  for  ever  (that  is,  is  con- 
tinued in  Ills  descendants).  So  tlae  word  must  be  taken  in  21-"',  if 
it  be  retained  in  tlie  text  (it  is  lacking  in  tlie  Grk.),  and  this  sense 
is  required  by  the  connection  of  our  verse  ;  the  sage  ascribes  to 
Wisdom  the  bestowal  of  well-being  which  the  psalmist  ascribes 
to  Yahweh.  — 19.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Fruit  and  produce 
(^  =  product,  crop,  revenue)  are  synonymous  agricultural  expres- 
sions of  blessing  and  prosperity.  As  in  the  preceding  verse, 
the  blessing  is  external.  The  comparison  afifirms  not  that  Wis- 
dom's reward  is  different  in  character  from  gold  (namely,  moral 
and  spiritual),  but  that  it  is  more  splendid  and  desirable  than  the 
most  precious  metals.  —  In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  two  terms,  gen- 
erally rendered  by  gohi  and  fine  gold ;  their  precise  meanings  are 
uncertain,  but  their  combination  may  be  represented  by  finest 
gold.  Cf.  note  on  v^".  —  20,  21.  Both  couplets  are  synonymous; 
v.^  is  ternary,  v.-'  ternary-binary.  Wisdom  sums  up  her  promises 
of  reward  in  the  declaration  that  she  deals  equitably  and  justly 
with  her  friends.  Equity  and  justice  are  synonyms.  The  former 
term  represents  the  Heb.  word  rendered  by  prospeiity  in  v.'* ; 
here  it  is  a  quaUty  of  action  (=  right  decision),  there  it  is  the 
result  of  this  action.  The  statement  of  v.-"  is  simply  I  deal  justly. 
Friends,  lit.  those  who  love  me,  as  in  v.^'' ;  wealth  —  possession, 
property  (RV.  substance).  The  initial  particle  in  v.-^  expresses 
purpose  {in  order  that  I  may),  and  this  is  here  equivalent  to 
result  {so  that  I  do).  Wisdom's  justice  is  guarantee  that  she  will 
properly  reward  those  who  devote  themselves  to  her ;  the  two 
verses  may  be  thus  paraphrased  :  Since  I  am  just,  my  friends  will 
be  properly  rewarded.  The  rendering  righteousness  (instead  of 
equity)  in  v.-"  is  misleading ;  it  conveys  to  us  the  idea  of  obedi- 
ence to  religious  law,  or  moral  and  religious  purity ;  but  these 
quahties,  though  they  belong  to  Wisdom,  are  not  here  in  question  ; 
the  writer,  as  the  connection  shows,  has  in  mind  simply  the  justice 
which  assures  to  every  man  his  due.  —  At  the  end  of  v.^^  Grk. 
adds,  as  introduction  or  transition  to  the  following  section,  the 
words  :  If  I  declare  to  vou  the  things  of  daily  occurrence,  I  will  re- 
member to  recount  the  things  of  old —  that  is,  I  now  pass  from  our 
present  life  to  the  history  of  the  primeval  time  —  an  explanatory 
note  by  a  scribe,  not  a  part  of  the  original  text. 


VIII.  iS-2i  171 

12.  |§  \~inu',  an  improbable  expression;  (^  Karea-KT^vwcra;  SST  rri-in  crtv/Zt" 
(cf.  Pink);  read  \-ijrDn  utiderstand,  ox  \"tiJ|1,  which  is  graphically  not  hard, 
if  the  a*  of  ^njs:'  may  be  miswriting  of  preceding  n  (in  7\r::-:iT\).  Before  ma;?: 
insert  1 .  |^  Xi'CN;  (§  eTre/caXecrd/U')?;',  for  e'7re/<:T77(7d/A77y  (Jag.).  —  13.  J^yTPNJU'; 
on  S^C  cf.  Pink. ;  on  an  apparently  personal  interpretation  of  >'"i  (  =  had  fitan) 
in  Talm.  see  li.  Deutsch,  Spr.  Sal.,  p.  68.  — 14.  In  ''  we  must  either  take  ^jn 
as  preposed  subject,  and  insert  1  before  mi3',  or,  what  is  simpler,  following 
(5,  change  ■'JN  to  ^'^.  — 16.  |fj  I'in  y^^'i'  Sd;  (§  rvpawoL  KpaTovcn  7^s;  read 
'N  liDs:-.  —  For  inx  ^^TiL  and  many  Heb.  MSS.  and  printed  Edd.  give  p-i-i 
(see  De'  Rossi),  which  seems  to  be  scribal  repetition  from  end  of  preceding 
verse;  after  -^yi'  we  expect  3  before  p-iy,  as  in  \p  961^  98^.  —  On  SiK  see  Pink.'s 
note.  — 17.  Read  Qeri  13ns  (so  (@);-Bi.  anx  ni  ans  ijn  I  love  him  zvho  loves 
Yah,  an  improbable  reading.  — 18.  |£j  pnv;  <&  iroWwv,  perhaps  for  TraXatwi' 
(Grabe,  cited  by  Lag.);  ST  N'''??di  and  riches;  5t  =p?;  'A  ^ter'  elp-qvr]s;  S 
(and  0)  Tra\ai6s;  IL  siiperhae. — 20.  At  the  end  (5  adds  a.va.(TTpe<po\xa.i,  to 
correspond  with  the  vb.  of  first  cl.,  but  against  the  rhythm.  —  21.  JIJ  'C\; 
(S'inrap^iv;  C  NHNUD  i<^yz'  7?iany  years  ;  ^  ^'\20  hope  ;  "^  ut  ditem.  On  the 
form  cf.  Ew.,  §  146  d,  Stade,  §  jjod,  and  on  the  meaning  BDB.  On  the  coup- 
let added  in  (5  (the  style  of  which  differs  from  that  of  the  context)  see  notes 
of  Jager,  Lag.,  Baumgartner. 

22-31.  Wisdom's  primeval  life  with  Yahweh.  —  A  section 
distinct  from,  but  allied  to,  the  preceding.  The  statement  of 
Wisdom's  rewards  is  followed  by  a  description  of  her  creation  and 
her  intimate  relations  with  Yahweh  ;  the  picture  is  similar  to  that 
in  3^'*-°,  but  is  more  detailed,  with  distincter  personification,  ap- 
proaching but  not  reaching  hypostatization. '  Wisdom  was  brought 
into  being  before  Yahweh  began  the  work  of  creation  (v.^-"-*'),  was 
present  when  he  established  heavens,  sea,  and  earth  (v.-'"-^),  rejoic- 
ing in  all  his  work  (v.^"'^^).  This  is  the  culmination  of  the  portrai- 
ture, in  Proverbs,  of  Wisdom's  function  in  the  world  :  she  is  the 
source  of  sound  knowledge  in  life  (v."""),  she  conducts  the  gov- 
ernment of  society  (v.^-"^^),  and  confers  the  noblest  rewards  (v.'''-^), 
she  antedates  human  experience,  having  been  present  at  the  con- 
struction of  the  world  (v.--^"^).,  The  description  is  completely 
non-national  and  universal,  and  thus  stands  in  contrast  with  the 
similar  passage  in  Ben-Sira  (ch.  24),  in  which  Wisdom  dwells  in 
Israel  and  is  identified  with  the  Jewish  Law.  From  the  more 
vivid  and  human  picture  of  Wisd.  Sol.,  ch.  7  it  differs  in  its 
architectural  simplicity  and  solidity,  while  Philo's  Wisdom  is  more 
philosophical  in  form  and  comes  to  the  very  verge  of  hypostasis. 


I 72  PROVERBS 

In  Job  28  the  representation  of  Wisdom  is  ethical,  not  cosmo- 
gonic  :  eluding  man's  search  she  is  declared  by  God  to  be  iden- 
tical with  righteousness.  Proverbs  offers  the  earliest  surviving 
form  of  that  Hellenized  conception  which  finally  took  complete 
shape  in  Philo.  The  sage  of  Proverbs  is  thoroughly  Israehtish, 
but  his  idea  of  the  unity  and  order  of  the  world  has  been  formed 
in  an  atmosphere  pervaded  by  Greek  thought.  His  Wisdom  is 
the  creature  of  Yahweh,  God  of  Israel  and  of  the  whole  earth,  but 
is  at  the  same  time  the  highest  intelligence,  conceived  of  as 
present  with  God  in  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  directing  all 
human  life  —  a  conception  which  thus  combines  philosophic  uni- 
versality and  Jewish  theistic  belief. 

With  the  picture  of  creation  here  given  cf.  that  of  Gen.  i,  that 
of  Job  38'*"",  and  the  Babylonian  cosmogonic  epic*  Our  poem 
divides  itself  naturally  into  four  parts  :  Wisdom's  primeval  origin 
(v.^^-  ^)  ;  her  birth  before  the  world  (v.-^-")  ;  her  presence  at  the— | 
creation  of  the  world  (v.^"-^)  ;  her  joyous  existence  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  (v.-*-  ^^) .  The  third  division  seems  to  refer  in  a  gen- 
eral way  to  the  second  :  v.^^-  ^*  have  the  same  material  as  v.^,  and 
v.^^'^  has  the  same  as  v.-^-  ^^ ;  v.^  has  no  antecedent,  unless  there 
be  in  w?--"^  an  implication  of  the  creation  of  the  heaven  (cf.  Gen. 
i^).  The  paragraph  consists  of  ten  couplets,  and  might  be 
written  as  five  quatrains  (so  Bickell),  but  the  logical  division 
would  thus  be  abandoned. 

22.  Yahweh  formed  me  as  the  beginning  of  his  creation, 
The  first  of  his  works,  in  days  of  yore; 

23.  In  the  primeval  time  was  I  fashioned, 

In  the  beginning,  at  the  origin  of  tlie  earth. 

24.  When  there  were  no  depths  was  I  brought  into  being, 
No  fountains  full  of  water; 

25.  Before  the  mountains  were  sunk. 
Before  the  hills  was  I  brought  into  being, 

26.  When  he  had  not  yet  made  the  earth,  []  f 
Nor  the  first  of  the  clods  of  the  world. 


*  See  Delitzsch's  edition  of  the  poem,  and  the  discussion  of  it  in  M.  Jastrow's 
Relig.  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  ch.  21. 
t  Heb.  adds ;  and  the  fields. 


VIII.  22-23  173 

2"].    When  he  established  the  heavens  I  was  there, 

When  he  marked  off  the  vault  on  the  face  of  the  deep, 

28.  When  he  made  firm  the  clouds  above, 
(  Fixed  fast  >  the  fountains  of  the  deep, 

29.  When  he  set  bounds  to  the  sea,  []  * 
When  he  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth. 

30.  And  I  was  at  his  side,  as  his  <  ward,' 
Full  of  delight  day  by  day, 
Sporting  in  his  presence  continually, 

31.  Sporting  in  his  world.     []  f 

22,  23.   Wisdom's  primeval  origin. 

22.  Synonymous,  quaternary-ternary.  Instead  of  Yahweh  Targ. 
has  God.  —  The  rendering  formed  (  =  created  )  is  supported  by 
the  parallel  expressions  in  v.-'^-^^-^^  {?nade  or  ordained  and  brought 
into  being)  ;  the  translation  possessed  (RV.)  is  possible,  but  does 
not  accord  with  the  context,  in  which  the  point  is  the  time  of 
Wisdom's  creation.  —  The  Hebrew,  all  the  Greek  Versions,  and 
the  best  MS.  of  the  Vulgate  (Cod.  Amiatinus)  have  as  the  begin- 
ning, Clementine  Vulgate,  Syriac,  Targum  /;/  the  beginning  (so 
RV.)  ;  the  two  readings  are  substantially  identical  in  meaning, 
but  that  of  the  Hebrew  is  favored  by  the  form  of  second  cl.  {first), 
and  by  the  similar  phrase  in  Job  40'^,  where  Behemoth  is  described 
as  the  chief  (lit.  beginning)  of  the  creation  of  God.  %  —  Creation  is 
lit.  way,  =  procedure,  performance  (Job  26"  40^''')  ;  Grk.  has  pin. 
ways,  which  is  perhaps  favored  by  plu.  zvorks  of  second  cl.  —  First 
(RV.  margin)  is  the  more  natural  rendering  of  the  Hebrew ; 
before  (RV.  and  some  Anc.  Vrss.)  is  hardly  allowable. — Cf.  the 
begimiing  of  the  creation  of  God  (Rev.  3"),  and  the  firstborn  of 
all  creation  (Col.  i'*). — In  days  of  yore  (RV.  of  old)  =  "in 
remotest  antiquity  "  ;  see  note  on  the  parallel  expression  in  next 
verse.  —  23.  Synonymous,  binary.  While  v."  describes  Wisdom 
as  the  first  of  Yahweh's  works,  v.-^  gives  the  time  of  her  creation 
in  general  terms.  The  Hebrew  prepositions  introduce  the  point 
of  time  not  before  which  (RV.,  some  Anc.  Vrss.)  but  at  which  the 
creation  took  place.     Primeval  time  (usually  everlasting  in  RV.) 

*  Heb.  adds  :  that  its  wafers  should  not  transgress  his  command. 
+  Heb.  adds  :  and  my  delight  was  with  mankind. 
X  See  Budde's  note,  in  Nowack's  Handkominentar . 


1 74  PROVERBS 

is  time  hidden  by  distance,  remote,  dim,  in  the  past  or  in  the 
future ;  in  Mic.  5-'^^  it  is  used  to  express  the  remote  origin  of  the 
Davidic  house  :  a  ruler  in  Israel  whose  origin  is  long  ago  in  the 
distant  past.  The  famihar  expression  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing gives  the  two  termini  of  a  long  period,  =  from  a  remote  past 
to  a  remote  future ;  so  in  \^  90^,  where  the  termini,  appHed  to 
God,  are  indefinitely  remote,  though  the  Hebrew  word  has  not 
the  modern  sense  of  the  temporally  infinite. — The  rendering 
fashioned  is  favored  by  the  formed  of  v."  (see  also  the  verbs 
expressing  birth  in  v.-*  -").  It  seems,  however,  to  be  forcing  the 
terms  when  it  is  held  (Frank.)  that  v.^^-^  refer  to  Wisdom's  con- 
ception in  the  womb,  and  v.^^-"  to  her  birth  ;  both  paragraphs 
relate  to  her  birth,  the  difference  between  them  being  that  the 
first  is  general,  the  second  specific.  The  rendering  (see  </'  2^) 
ordained,  established  (RV.  set  np),  =  placed  in  position,  is  per- 
mitted by  the  connection,  but  is  less  apposite.  —  The  origin  (lit. 
first  times^  of  the  earth  =  the  beginning  of  Yahweh's  work.  — 
Wisdom,  though  coeval  with  the  beginning  of  the  divine  activity, 
is  created  at  a  definite  point  of  time,  and  thus  differs  from  the 
Logos  of  Philo  and  the  Fourth  Gospel.  The  date  and  occasion 
of  the  beginning  are  not  defined  (though  Wisdom  precedes  the 
physical  world),  and  nothing  is  said  of  the  existence  of  Wisdom 
or  of  the  nature  of  the  life  of  God  before  the  creative  work 
begins. 

24-26.   Wisdom  anterior  to  the  physical  world. 

The  physical  world  is  described  by  its  parts  :  in  v.-^  the  waters, 
in  v.^  the  mountains,  in  v.-''  the  soil.  —  24.  Synonymous,  binary. 
Depths  are  the  great  masses  of  water,  seas  and  rivers,  including 
probably  the  subterranean  ocean  whence  fountains  spring ;  see 
note  on  3-".  Brought  into  being,  lit.  brought  forth ;  the  same 
figure  is  used  of  the  earth  in  ^  90^,  and  of  the  sea  in  Job  38^ ; 
here  it  seems  to  be  a  pure  figure  of  speech  (parallel  to  formed, 
v.^^),  with  no  reference  to  physical  begetting;  Wisdom  is  the 
creature,  not  the  child,  of  Yahweh.  In  the  Hebrew  of  second  cl. 
the  foujitains  are  described  by  a  term  usually  understood  to  mean 
heavy,  heavy-laden,  and  so  abounding  (RV.)  or  rich  {in  water')  ; 
the  word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  this  sense,  and  is  not  found  in  the 


VIII.  23-26  175 

Grk. ;  a  slight  change  of  the  Heb.  gives  the  meaning  full,  but 
the  word  should  perhaps  be  omitted.  —  25.  Synonymous,  ternary. ^\ 
The  word  sunk  refers  to  the  ancient  view  that  the  mountains  were  ^ 
solid  structures  resting  on  foundations  sunk  deep  in  the  earth 
down  to  the  floor  of  the  subterranean  ocean ;  so  \\i  iS''**  the  foun- 
dations  of  the  mountains  shook  (in  an  earthquake),  and  Jon.  2^''^'  ^ 
I  we7it  down  to  the  bases  (or,  extremities^  of  the  mountains  (the 
level  of  the  bottom  of  the  sea).*  —  26.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
The  Hebrew  reads  :  tlie  earth  and  the  outside  places.  The  expres- 
sion outside  places  is  difficult.  To  understand  it  as  referring  to 
the  heavenly  spaces  (for  which  it  would  be  a  strange  and  improb- 
able term)  seems  forbidden  by  the  parallelism,  second  cl.  speaking 
of  the  earth  alone.  The  word  must  mean  fields,  as  in  Job  5^".  To 
obtain  a  contrast  some  expositors  take  earth  as  =  cultivated  land, 
and  fields  as  =  uncultivated  land,  but  this  does  violence  to  the 
language.  It  is  difficult  to  regard  the  two  terms  as  synonymous, 
as  in  Job  5'" ;  in  Job  they  occur  in  different  clauses  in  proper  par- 
allelism, while  here  they  stand  together  connected  by  and  (which 
can  hardly  be  taken  as  =  namely),  and,  even  if  the  synonymity 
were  allowed,  we  should  have  to  suppose  a  whole  to  be  put  in  ap- 
position with  some  of  its  parts.  This  is  obviously  different  from 
the  common  expression  the  earth  and  all  that  it  contains  {the 
earth  and  the  fulness  thereof).  We  get  no  light  on  the  verse 
from  the  Anc.  Vrss.  Grk. :  the  Lord  made  countries  and  iminhab- 
ited  tracts  and  inhabited  summits  of  the  region  under  the  heavens, 
which  follows  the  Heb.  in  a  general  way,  but  yields  no  sense. 
Syr.  Targ.  Lat.  have  rivers  instead  of  outside  places ;  Aq.  and 
Sym.  have  exits.  Either  these  renderings  are  guesses,  or  they  rep- 
resent forms  of  text  different  from  ours.  It  seems  impossible  to 
fix  the  Heb.  original,  but,  in  any  case,  both  clauses  refer  to  the 
creation  of  the  earth,  and  the  expression  outside  places  may  be 
omitted  without  detriment  to  the  thought.  For  Heb.  first  (or, 
mass)  of  the  clods  (or,  dust)  Lat.  has  poles;  the  chronological 
rendering  first  (instead  of  mass)  is  favored  by  first  line  {not 
yet). 

*  Cf.  the  Babylonian  view,  given  in  Jastrow's  Relig.  of  Bab.  and  Ass.,  p.  443, 
488  f. 


1/6  PROVERBS 

27-31.  Wisdom  present  at  the  construction  of  the  universe. 

27-29  describe  the  creation  of  the  physical  world  (omitting 
heavenly  bodies  and  animate  things),  probably  selected  on  ac- 
count of  its  obvious  grandeur ;  the  wonderfulness  of  man  is  rarely 
spoken  of  in  OT.  (yj/  8.  139).  Cf.  Job  38'*"^^  —  27.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  heavetis  =  sky,  thought  of  as  a  solid  expanse 
(Gen.  i'^)  to  be  fixed  in  its  place.  To  the  eye  it  appears  as  the 
interior  of  the  dome,  a  circle,  sphere,  vault,  on  which  God  is  said 
to  walk  (Job  22")  ;  this  vault  descends  on  all  sides  to  the  terres- 
trial expanse,  forming  a  circle  (the  horizon),  and  is  said  to  rest  on 
the  deep,  that  is,  the  ocean  which  not  only  underlies  but  also  flows 
round  the  world  (Gen.  i^  i//  i04*'"''').  This  conception  (to  which 
that  of  the  Babylonians  and  Greeks  is  similar)  *  rests  on  the 
simplest  geographical  observation.  If  the  rendering  circle  be 
adopted  (RV.),  instead  oi vault,  the  reference  will  be  to  the  hori- 
zon.—  28.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Clouds  (AV.)  as  in  3"°,  not 
skies  (RV.),  the  heavens  (=  skies)  being  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding verse ;  the  Heb.  word  is  used  for  the  sky  apparently  con- 
ceived of  as  an  expanse  of  clouds  (Dt.  33-'''  ^  18"'^-^).  In  the 
second  line  the  fountains  of  the  deep  might,  from  the  parallelism, 
be  interpreted  as  the  celestial  sources  of  water,  stored  above  the 
firmament,  whence  descends  the  fain  when  the  windows  of  heaven 
are  opened  (Gen.  7") ;  the  sea  is  mentioned  in  the  next  verse. 
But  the  deep  is  elsewhere  always  the  sea,  and  must  probably  be 
so  understood  here  —  in  this  verse  its  formation,  in  v.^^  its  Hmita- 
tion.  In  accordance  with  the  phraseology  of  the  rest  of  the  para- 
graph we  must  xtsid  fixed  fast  (instead  of  became  fast  or  strong, 
or  burst  violently  forth),  a  reading  supported  by  the  Greek,  and 
obtained  by  a  slight  change  in  the  Hebrew.  —  29.  A  triplet  (as 
the  text  stands)  ;  the  first  and  second  lines  form  a  couplet,  synony- 
mous, ternary,  and  the  third  line  also  is  ternary.  The  bounds  of 
the  sea  are  fixed,  as  in  Gen.  i"-^"  Job  38^"  \p  104^^  Lit.  when  he 
set  to  the  sea  its  bound ;  the  rendering  when  he  ordained  his  decree 
for  the  sea  does  not  accord  so  well  with  the  following  clause. 
Nor,  in  second  cL,  is  the  translation  should  not  pass  beyond  its  shore 
allowable,  since  the  Heb.  word  ("e)  is  never  used  in  the  sense  of 


*  Jastrow,  op.  cit. ;  II.  i8,  607 ;  Herod.  4,  36. 


VIII.  27-30  1/7 

shore.  —  The  earth  is  described  as  founded,  like  a  building,  in 
many  passages  in  OT.  (Jer.  31''^  Isa.  51^''  Job  38*  i/r  24^  82^  104^), 
and  the  word  is  to  be  interpreted  literally.  —  The  Vatican  Grk. 
omits  the  first  and  second  clauses  of  this  verse  (probably  by  scribal 
oversight)  ;  Bickell,  to  avoid  the  triplet  form,  omits  the  third.  The 
symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  other  verses  suggests  that  a  line 
may  have  here  fallen  out  of  the  Hebrew  text,  or  been  added  to  it. 
There  is  no  trace  of  a  missing  line.  The  third  hne  corresponds 
to  v."'^-  ^'',  and  seems  to  be  necessary ;  but  second  line,  an  explana- 
tion of  first  line,  is  not  necessary,  and  may  be  a  gloss  suggested 
by  Job  38". 

30,  31  describe  Wisdom's  manner  of  life  at  the  side  of  Yahweh 
during  the  work  of  creation.  Text  and  translation  are  difficult. 
Cf.  WS.  7"-8^  —  30.  Apparently  ternary  ;  v.^''''  appears  to  belong 
with  v.^^%  the  two  lines  forming  a  couplet  (ternary) .  The  verb 
was  refers  the  paragraph  to  the  period  mentioned  above,  the  time 
of  creation.  The  expression  at  his  side  implies  intimate  associa- 
tion, but  not  necessarily  architectonic  activity  ;  in  itself  it  conveys 
only  the  idea  that  God's  work  was  characterized  by  wisdom.  — - 
The  word  rendered  wa7-d  in  the  translation  above  occurs  only  here 
in  OT.,  and  its  meaning  is  doubtful.  By  a  change  of  form  it  may 
be  understood  as  having  the  same  sense  as  the  similar  term  in 
Cant.  7^'^\  artist,  here  architect,  master-workman  ;*  the  objection 
to  this  rendering  is  that  in  the  preceding  description  Yahweh  him- 
self is  architect,  and  in  the  following  context  Wisdom  is  repre- 
sented as  sporting,  not  as  working.f  A  different  change  of  the 
Heb.  word  gives  the  form  found  in  Lam.  4^,  =  one  brought  up, 
cherished,  whence  alumnus  {alumna') ,  nursling,  foster-child,  \  or 
guarded,  under  protection,  ward  (Frank.).  Frankenberg  under- 
stands the  procedure  of  the  paragraph  thus  :  Wisdom  is  conceived 
(v."-^^),  is  born  (v.-'*'-"),  is  present  at  the  creation  (v.'"'^),  is,  as 
young  child,  at  Yahweh's  side,  under  his  care,  living  a  joyous  life. 
The  sense  nursling  accords  with  the  succeeding  context,  and  with 

*  So  Grk.,  Lat.,  Ew.,  RV.,  and  most  modern  expositors.  The  expression  in 
Jer.  52I5  is  too  obscure  to  be  cited  in  this  connection. 

t  It  is,  perhaps,  to  the  sense  artist  of  the  word  here  that  WS.  721  alludes  in  its 

X  Aq.,  Rashi,  AV.,  Schult.,  al. 

N 


XyS  PROVERBS 

the  representation  of  the  whole  paragraph,  and  corresponds,  as 
passive,  to  the  active  nurse  or  tu/or,  male  (Nu.  ii^^  2  K.  lo'- 
Isa.  49-^  Esth.  2')  or  female  (2  S.  4^  Ru.  4'^).  The  renderings 
faithful  (Targ.)  and  continually  (Hoffman,  Schriftbeweis,  I.,  97) 
are  not  allowable ;  the  Heb.  might  be  changed  so  as  to  give  the 
sense  continually,  parallel  to  day  by  day,  and  to  the  adverb  in  the 
third  line,  but  the  change  would  be  arbitrary  and  graphically  hard. 

—  WS.  9^,  Wisdom,  who  knows  thy  works,  was  with  thee,  was  pres- 
ent when  thou  niadest  the  world,  appears  to  be  a  philosophically 
colored  reproduction  of  this  line.  —  In  second  line  the  Heb.  reads 
lit.  :  I  was  delight,  which  may  mean  "  I  experienced  an  emotion  of 
delight  "  or  "  I  was  a  source  of  delight  "  (to  God),  =  his  delight;  * 
the  latter  is  the  sense  of  delight  in  most  of  the  passages  in  which 
the  word  occurs  (Isa.  ^'  Jer.  i\^  ^  iig^''"'),  but  the  former  is 
favored  by  the  connection,  in  which  is  portrayed  Wisdom's  joy  in 
the  contemplation  of  the  divine  creation  (Wild.,  al.) ;  cf.  Job  38^ 
For  the  construction  (/  was  delight  —  I  was  full  of  delight)  cf. 
^  126' :  I  am  peace,  =  "I  am  for  peace  (or  peaceable),"  and 
Gen.  12^:  be  thou  blessing,  =  "be  thou  full  of  (or,  a  type  of) 
blessing."  —  The  picture  of  enjoyment  is  continued  in  the  next 
line  by  the  term  sporting  or  laughing  (RV.,  rejoicing),  which  in 
like  manner  portrays  Wisdom's  delight  in  God's  work.  The  word 
can  hardly  have  the  s,en?,e  joyously  active,  which  would  be  appropri- 
ate if  Wisdom  were  represented  as  master-tvorkman.\  — 31.  Ter- 
nary. The  first  line  seems  to  be  identical  in  meaning  with  v,^". 
His  7vorld  is  lit.  the  world  of  his  earth,  in  which  expression  the 
first  term  may  represent  as  an  organized  whole  that  which  the 
second  term  represents  merely  as  a  mass.  The  expression  is, 
however,  more  probably  a  rhetorical  aggregation ;  the  two  terms 
are  really  synonymous  (as  in  v.^",  i//  90-  al.),  the  first  being  poetic, 
the  second  the  ordinary  prose  word  ;  the  first  does  not  mean 
specifically  the  inhabited  world,  yj  olKovixivrj  (as  RV.  interprets  it) 

—  both  terms  are  occasionally  used  in  that  sense  (if/  96^^).     It 

*  So  Grk.,  RV.,  Oort,  Frank.,  a/. 

t  The  verb  is  used  to  describe  tiie  play  of  the  people  in  a  festival  (Ex.  326), 
dancing  etc.  in  a  religious  procession  (2  S.  62i),  and  a  military  combat  of  cham- 
pions (2  S.  2i<-i6) ;  in  the  last  case  the  "sport"  was  of  the  grimmest,  but  it  was 
apparently  regarded  as  a  spectacle  in  which  the  two  armies  found  relaxation  and 
pleasure. 


VIII.  30-36  •  179 

does  not  seem  to  be  the  intention  of  the  poet  to  represent  Wisdom 
as  passing  from  the  divine  presence  into  the  world  of  men ;  the 
point  in  the  whole  of  the  preceding  description  is  her  intimate 
association  with  Yahweh  in  the  creation  of  the  world  —  not  as 
architect  or  adviser,  but  as  companion  —  it  is  the  poetical  expres- 
sion of  the  fact  that  wisdom  is  visible  in  the  construction  of  the 
world.  This  being  the  theme,  it  seems  improbable  that  at  the 
end  so  important  a  point  as  Wisdom's  dealing  with  men  (which  is 
treated  at  length  in  the  first  half  of  the  chapter)  would  be  intro- 
duced with  a  brief  sentence,  and  with  the  term  sporting.  For  this 
reason  the  second  line,  and  my  delight  was  with  mankind  (lit.  with 
the  sons  of  men),  appears  to  be  an  addition  by  an  editor  or  scribe 
who  desired  to  see  a  reference  to  XVisdom's  work  among  men.  But, 
in  the  preceding  description  of  creation  man  is  not  mentioned, 
the  author  choosing  to  confine  his  view  to  the  physical  world  (cf. 
Job  38.  39,  where  only  things  non-human  are  mentioned).  —  Grk. 
regards  Yahweh  as  the  subject  of  the  couplet :  when  he  rejoiced 
at  having  finished  the  inhabited  world,  and  rejoiced  among  the 
sojis  of  men  (following  Gen,  i^^),  but  the  change  of  subject  is 
improbable. 

32-36.  Wisdom's  concluding  exhortation  to  men.  The  He- 
brew reads : 

32.  And  now,  my  sons,  hearken  to  me  — 
Happy  are  they  who  walk  in  my  ways. 

2,2,.  Hear  instruction  that  ye  may  be  wise, 
Reject  it  not. 

34.  Happy  is  the  man  who  hearkens  to  me, 
Watching  continually  at  my  gates, 
Waiting  at  the  posts  of  my  doors. 

35.  For  he  who  finds  me  finds  life, 
And  obtains  favor  from  Yahweh, 

36.  And  he  who  misses  me  wrongs  himself  — 
All  who  hate  me  love  death. 

In  the  Hebrew  text  the  order  is  unsatisfactory ;  v.^^  is  closely 
connected  with  v.''-%  and  v.^^"  with  v.^-''  —  this  is  nearly  the  order  of 
Vat.  Grk.,  which,  however,  omits  v.'".  Following  this  suggestion, 
with  some  modifications,  we  might  read  : 

And  now,  my  sons,  hearken  to  me, 
Hear  my  instruction,  reject  it  not. 


l80  PROVERBS 

Happy  is  he  who  walks  in  my  ways, 
Happy  the  man  who  hearkens  to  me, 
Watching,  etc. 

If  v.^  be  retained,  as  in  the  Hebrew,  its  symmetry  would  be  im- 
proved by  reading  tlie  second  line  :  Reject  not  my  admonition. 
The  lines  in  the  Heb.  text  are  ternary,  except  v.^*^,  which  has 
only  one  beat ;  in  the  emendation  suggested  above  this  exception 
disappears.  The  emendation  also  gets  rid  of  the  triplet  (v.^*), 
and  gives  a  series  of  synonymous  couplets.  Bickell,  by  inser- 
tions, makes  three  quatrains. — The  happiness  of  the  devotee  of 
Wisdom  (the  central  thought  of  chs.  1-9)  is  here  stated  in  general 
terms.  Such  an  one  waits  at  her  doors  (v.^^'')  like  a  suppliant  for 
royal  favor.  The  content  of  the  happiness  is  expressed  (v.^)  by 
the  equivalent  terms  life  and  the  favor  of  Yahweh,  the  opposite  of 
which  is  w?'onging  one's  se/f  and  death  (v.^").  The  life  and  death 
are,  as  elsewhere  (i^^  2^^-^'^  3^^,  etc.),  physical,  but  with  the  conno- 
tation of  general  earthly  well-being  or  failure,  bodily  and  moral. 
The  opposite  oi  finds  is  misses  (v.*  RV.,  marg.),  that  is,  fails  to 
find  —  metaphorical  expression  taken  from  missing  a  mark  ;  sin 
also  in  Heb.  is  conceived  of  as  a  failure  to  hit  the  mark,  but  the 
sense  sins  agai?ist  (RV.),  which  the  Heb.  word  might  conceivably 
have,  does  not  accord  with  that  of  the  parallel  clause.  There  is, 
however,  in  misses  an  element  of  conscious  action  {^  =  purposely 
fails  to  find),  which  is  definitely  expressed  in  the  parallel  hate 
(v.^*^)  =  deliberately  disapprove  and  reject  (cf.  v.'^) .  It  is  the  free 
human  will  that  is  appealed  to  (as  in  i-^  and  throughout  the 
Book)  —  of  their  own  motion  men  accept  or  reject  the  highest 
things.  Those  who  reject  instruction  do  violence  to,  wrong  them- 
selves {Jiis  soul  =  himself ) ,  and,  hating  the  source  of  life,  love 
death  (see  2^^  4'^  5^  7^)  ;  the  rendering  his  life,  instead  of  him- 
self (v.''"''),  is  less  accurate.  By  change  of  text  despises  may  be 
read  (as  in  15^^),  instead  of  wrongs,  but  the  change  is  not  neces- 
sary. With  the  independent  action  of  man  accords  the  attitude 
of  God  —  to  those  who  choose  aright  he  shows  goodwill,  friend- 
liness, favor  {y.^)  —  his  opposite  attitude  toward  the  unwise  is 
stated  in  3^--^  (cf.  i/^  1825-26(26.27)^^  The  relation  of  God  to  human 
conduct  is  here  described  as  that  of  a  judge  —  he  is  not  said  to 
inspire  or  guide,  but  to  bestow  favor  or  disfavor  according  to 
desert  (so  generally  in  OT.). 


VIII.  32-36  i8i 

This  description  of  wisdom  has  played  a  prominent  part  in  theo- 
logical history,  especially  in  the  history  of  Christian  dogmatics. 
It  is  imitated  in  BS.  i'-^"  24  ;  in  the  latter  chapter  Wisdom  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Law,  and  so  generally  in  the  later  Jewish  expository 
works.*  In  Wisd.  Sol.  7  it  is  Wisdom's  relation  to  the  human 
soul  that  is  expounded.  The  NT.,,  chiefly  occupied  with  other 
points  of  view,  barely  alludes  (Mt.  11"  i  Cor.  i"*  Col.  i^'-^'^)  to  an 
identification  of  Wisdom  with  the  Messiah.  Philo's  treatment  of 
the  conception  hardly  goes  beyond  the  OT.  point  of  view.f  The 
Jewish  schools  appear  to  have  laid  no  stress  on  the  demiurgic 
function  of  wisdom  as  such.  J  It  is  in  the  Christian  Church  that 
the  idea  first  assumed  importance.  The  whole  passage,  Pr.  8^^"^^ 
(especially  v.^")  was  early  employed  in  the  controversies  respecting - 
the  nature  of  the  Second  Person  of  the  Trinity,  particularly  in  con- 
nection with  the  idea  of  eternal  generation ;  the  argument  turned 
in  part  on  the  question  whether  the  verb  in  y.^  was  to  be  trans- 
lated by  created  or  by  possessed.  The  passage  was  used  by  the 
Sabellians,  §  and  is  referred  to  as  proof  of  the  uncreated  person  of 
the  Son  by  Irenaeus,  ||  Tertullian,^  and  especially  by  Athanasius 
(against  the  Arian  position),**  and  later  by  Augustine,tt  and 
Basil  of  CaesareaJI;  it  has  often  since  been  cited  as  proof- 
text.  §§  It  seems  obvious  that  it  gives  a  personification,  intended 
to  affirm  the  wisdom  manifest  in  the  creation  of  the  world  —  an 
approach  (under  Greek  influence)  to  hypostasis,  but  not  more 
than  an  approach. 

22.  ?§  nin>;  E  xnSx  —  |^  ^jjp ;  (gBSA  ai.  ?;«»•.  (and  so  SST)  €KTi<rej';  H-P  23 
(Venet.),  252,  'AS9  kKr-qaa.ro,  and  1L  possedit.  —  (§  renders  Dip  by  e/s,  and 
omits  TXO;  the  rendering  appears  to  be  an  error  of  the  translator,  and  not 

*  Midrash  Mishle  on  Pr.  822,  Ber.  Rab.,  c.  i,  al. 

t  See  Drummond,  Philo-Judaeus ,  Bk.  3,  ch.  6,  p.  212;  Siegfried,  Philo  von 
Alexand.;  Ving^s,  Messiah  o/  Aj>osiL's,  p.  ^g^-^14;  Toy,  Judaism  and  Christian- 
ity, p.  99-102. 

X  See  Weber,  Theologie  (on  Memra,  Metatron,  etc.). 

§  Dorner,  Person  of  Christ,  Eng.  transl.  I.,  2,  p.  1835. 

II  Cont.  Haer.,  Bk.  4,  ch.  20. 

II  Cont.  Prax.,  ch.  7.  ft  De  Trin.,  Bk.  I.,  ch.  12. 

**  De  Decret.,  13,  14,  and  Or  at.  II.,  chs.  16-22.  ++  Letters,  8,  8. 

\\  In  Crit.  Sac.  (on  8-^)  by  Calv.  Inst.,  2,  14,  8,  Turretine,  lust.,  3,  29,  and  (appar- 
ently) by  Dick,  TheoL,  ch.  30,  but  not  by  Hodge  and  other  recent  writers. 


I 82  PROVERBS 

designed  to  a.void  the  expression  of  primeval  origin,  which  it  brings  out  fullj 
in  the  context.  SSC  Dip  jc;  %  aniequafii.  —  The  construction  of  this  verse, 
and  particularly  of  mp,  is  difficult.  Dip  is  not  a  preposition  in  Heb.  (RV. 
befo7-e),  nor  does  it  elsewhere  occur  as  noun  =  foremost,  first  (what  was  the 
Heb.  original  of  BS.  i*  irporepa  ttolvtuv  we  do  not  know).  Either  (if  the  text 
be  retained)  it  must  be  read  as  an  Aram,  form,  D"ip  (which  is  not  a  probable 
writing  for  the  original  text),  or  it  must  be  conjecturally  assumed  to  mean 
first.  If  the  context  (v.--^)  be  held  to  call  for  the  temporal  interpretation 
of  the  two  predicates,  we  must  read  n''!y}\"i3  (so  Jerome,  Ep.  140,  ad  Cyp.). 
The  difficulty  with  Dip  might  be  avoided  by  reading :  tnd  "ijS;'i3  aipc,  0/  old  hi 
created  me,  of  yore ;  there  would  then  be  no  word  in  '^  answering  to  the  i3"n 
of  ^,  but  this  would  not  be  an  insuperable  objection.  —  23.  "^  ^•^DpJ ;  (5  ede/xeXiw- 
aev,  as  if  from  iD",  and  so  S)  'j:pr>',  and  2C  (pass.)  n^jpnniN;  'A  KaTeo-Tdd-riv; 
IL  ordinata  sum.  The  signification  put,  set,  establish  for  the  stem  "|DJ  is 
assured  by  1/'  2^,  and  by  Ass.  nasak  {  =  put,  set,  De.,  Hwbuch);  possibly  this 
signification  and  the  pour  out  of  Heb.  are  connected;  Ass.  has  tiisakku 
{j^ priest'),  and  both  Ass.  and  Heb.  have  "ID]  prince,  perhaps  =  one  set  (in 
official  position),  possibly,  like  ttisakku,  —  a  pourer  (of  libations).  But  the 
derivation  of  our  word  from  t^D  is  more  satisfactory  (Ew.,  Hitz.,  Frank.) ; 
TiOD:  was  read  by  S  (and,  according  to  one  account,  by  9),  vpoKexeipKrfiai., 
probably  for  TrpoK€xpl-ViJ.ai,  and  (De.)  by  Graec.  Ven.,  k^x'^I^"-'-  —  24.  |§  •'n'?'?n; 
@,  less  well,  TTotrjcrai.  —  |^  ^1231,  lacking  in  (§,  and  perhaps  to  be  omitted  as 
yielding  no  satisfactory  sense;  we  may,  however,  read  ^S''?CJ  or  inSd  (cf. 
Eccl.  11^).  Bottcher's  noblest  of  ivaters  is  not  appropriate.  Oort  D^;jp3j  cleft, 
with  omission  of  dt,  does  not  commend  itself.  The  dag.  forte  in  the  t  seems 
to  be  due  to  the  rapid  pronunciation  of  stat.  const.  — 26.  |^  nS  nj";  (S  Kipios, 
free  rendering,  or  possibly  =  ^j-in.  —  ][§  nixin;  (§  aoiK-fiTovs;  the  word  is  in- 
compatible with  v-iN  (perhaps  inserted  from  Job  ^'^^),  and  is  better  omitted. 
S^SCIL  rivers,  on  which  see  Noldeke's  remark  in  Pink. — ||J  nnajJ  JJ'vSi;  Graetz 
noblest  of  dust,  =  gold  (Job  28^).  For  '>'  Dys.  writes  ^'^op  heights,  an  unneces- 
sary change;  (g  oiKovfxeva,  the  origin  of  which  is  doubtful;  Baumg.,  probably 
rightly,  rejects  Aram,  nnnv  inhabited ;  Held,  suggests  nrnp,  the  name  of  one 
of  the  seven  heavens,  according  to  Pirke  Eliezer,  c.  18  (see  ^  68^) ;  cf.  Levy, 
Chald.  Wort.  — 'in.  1^  Jin  (see  Isa.  40^2  Job  22");  B  Bpbvov,  perhaps  after 
Job  22^*.  —  (S  aviixoov,  =  mnn,  or  freely  takes  mnn  to  be  the  upper  ocean,  the 
o^urce  of  rain  and  wind-clouds,  and  so  perhaps,  in  next  verse,  t^s  vir  oipav6v. 
—  28.  ^  pr;;  write  vvj  (Oort,  Bi.),  from  the  connection,  and  (3  dffcpaXeis 
irtdei. — (3  TTJs  vir  ovpav6v  (see  preceding  note),  perhaps  = '?2n  (cf.  v."^^); 
Ju;5t.  and  Iren.  are  cited  in  H-P  as  having  d/3i^tr(rov,  and  Lag.  holds  this  to  be 
the  genuine  reading  of  (g.  — 29.  (5^  omits  a''-,  apparertly  by  scribal  error; 
Bi.  omits  "^  as  induced  by  the  erroneous  Grk.  text  of  v.^'^'';  probably  |^  has  lost 
a  line.  For  pj  pin  (S^  had  pin,  a  good  reading,  but  no  change  of  |§  is  neces- 
sary.—  30^  ?§  I'CN;  taken  from  stem  px  firm  by  (5  apub^ovcra.;  ^  Njpna 
arranger  (or  perhaps  pass.,  =firm,  trusty) ;  29  iffT-qpLyiiiv-q;  3L  cuncta  com- 
ponens ;  understood  as  connected  with  jnx  nurse  hy ' h.  riQ-qvovp.h-r]  (=  ^idn. 


IX.  1 83 

cf.  Lam.  4'^  Graetz) ;  rendered  as  adj.  by  ST  nr^i'C'^Ti  faithful,  trusty.  Nouns 
of  the  form  '?it3p  are  either  abstract  nouns  of  action  (Inf.  abs.),  or  of  the 
nature  of  Pres.  Parts.,  usually  of  stative  vbs.  (f'^p),  sometimes  of  active  or 
voluntative  vbs.  (l^S,  perhaps  pN  lord);  on  the  norm  see  Ew.,  §  152^;  on 
the  masc.  form,  Ges.'^*^,  §  122,  2,  c.  Anm.  i.  For  the  name  of  agent  we  expect 
the  form  Sap,  as  in  Cant.  7-,  and  Ass.  uinindnu.  Read  ps'.  Cf.  BDB.,  s.v. 
pDN  and  JON. — 1§  D'';;Vi;'>'::'  n^i.^i;  (§  i'^ui  tj/mtju  rj  Trpocr^xatpej',  reading  vyiB'i""', 
which,  from  the  connection,  is  improbable.  The  expression,  which  looks  tau- 
tologous,  is  omitted  by  Bi.  as  dittography  from  the  context;  if  it  be  taken  as 
scribal  repetition,  the  DV  DV  also  should  probably  be  omitted.  The  Hne  may, 
however,  be  retained;  see  note  on  this  v.  above.  — 31.  @  understands  nini  as 
subject,  and  at  end  of  *  adds  a-vvreXfaas,  perhaps  reading  niSon  for  S^n  (Lag.), 
perhaps  free  translation,  since  (Baumg.)  oiKov/xevriu  suggests  Sap.  —  32.  The 
order  in  <3^  is  v.^-"- 34a.  32b.  34b.  etc.  ^v.33  is  omitted),  a  natural  arrangement, 
favored  by  the  1  in  n^'Xi,  which  seems  to  point  to  a  preceding  parallel  clause. 
Bi.,  after  the  Saidic  Vrs.,  fills  out  v.^-"-  ^  as  follows :  And  now,  my  sons, 
hearken  to  me  ;  Hear  the  instruction  \_of  my  words  I  Live  to  length  of  days'\ 
and  be  wise,  And  reject  not  \my  admonition'\  !  a  possible  but  suspicious  ex- 
pansion; it  introduces  the  reward  (life)  in  anticipation  of  v.^^,  and  employs 
the  doubtful  expression  Qini  tinS  vn  (in  \p  23^  the  verb  is  different).  If  not 
the  addition  of  the  Coptic  scribe,  it  is  based  on  a  doubtful  Heb.  text;  cf.  Bi.'s 
note.  —  33.  The  Heb.  text  is  rhythmically  unsatisfactory,  and,  if  the  verse  be 
retained,  we  should  perhaps,  with  Bi.  (see  preceding  note),  add  innDin  at  end. 

—  35.  K  ■'Ni'D  (Q  .s'sd)  seems  to  be  scribal  repetition  of  preceding  word; 
(5,  '4^o5oL  fjLov  e^odoi  fw-^J,  read  nxxb  and  nssb,  inappropriate  and  improbable. 

—  36.  (&  has  Part,  and  vb.  plu.  in  ^  —  probably  a  change  of  the  Grk.  scribe, 
in  the  interests  of  rhetorical  symmetry;  Heb.  poetry  is  fond  of  variations  of 
grammatical  number  in  adjacent  clauses. 

IX.  Wisdom  and  Folly  as  hosts.  —  This  chapter,  as  it  stands, 
consists  of  three  parts.  In  v.^"^  Wisdom  is  personified  as  a  house- 
holder who  prepares  a  feast  (v.^-^),  to  which  she  invlces  the  unin- 
structed  (v.^*),  urging  them  to  partake  of  her  provision  and  Hve 
(v.'*'')  ;  cf.  i"""-^  8^"^^  In  contrast  with  this,  stands,  in  the  third 
part,  v.^''"^^,  the  invitation  of  Folly,  who,  noisy  and  seductive  (v.^^), 
sits  in  a  prominent  place  and  calls  to  the  passers-by  (v."-^*), 
tempting  the  uninstructed  youth  by  promise  of  secret  delights 
(v.^^  ''),  he  not  knowing  that  her  house  is  Sheol  (v.^*).  Standing 
between  these  two  descriptions,  and  interrupting  their  connection, 
is  the  paragraph  v.'^"^",  composed  of  separate  aphorisms  ;  it  belongs 
by  its  contents  in  the  succeeding  division  of  the  Book  (10-22^^), 
and  is  here  doubtless  inserted  by  scribal  error.     The  remainder  of 


1 84  PROVERBS 

the  chapter  stands  in  specially  close  connection  with  ch.  7  as  a 
warning  against  debauchery. 

1-6.  Wisdom's  invitation  to  her  feast  —  a  semi-allegorical 
description  of  her  gifts. 

1.  Wisdom  has  built  her  house, 
<  Set  up '  *  her  seven  pillars, 

2.  Killed  her  beasts,  mixed  her  wine, 
And  prepared  her  table. 

3.  She  has  sent  forth  her  maidens  i  to  cry  >  f 
On  the  thoroughfares  of  the  city : 

4.  "  Whoso  is  simple,  let  him  turn  in  hither  "  ! 
To  him  who  is  void  of  understanding  she  says : 

5.  "  Come,  eat  my  bread. 
Drink  the  wine  I  have  mixed ! 

6.  Forsake  <  folly,'  J  and  live. 

And  walk  in  the  way  of  understanding  "  ! 

1.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  building  of  the  house  is  men- 
tioned as  a  necessary  preparation  for  holding  a  continual  feast ;  it 
is  an  indication  that  Wisdom  has  set  up  a  permanent  establish- 
ment, in  which  she  is  ready  at  all  times  to  entertain  all  who  may 
come  to  her.  Instead  of  Heb.  hewn  (the  technical  term  of  the 
stonemason)  the  parallelism  favors  the  builder's  term  set  up, 
reared,  erected  (so  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.)  ;  the  point  is  not  that  the 
pillars  are  hewn,  but  that  they  are  put  in  place,  so  that  the  house 
is  finished  and  ready  for  guests.  The  pillars  are  an  ordinary  archi- 
tectural feature  of  the  time,  here  introduced  as  a  natural  append- 
age to  the  house.  The  precise  position  of  the  pillars  in  the 
Jewish  house  of  this  period  (c.  3d  century  B.C.)  is  not  known; 
probably,  as  in  Greek  and  Roman  houses,  they  surrounded  the 
hall  or  court  which  was  entered  from  the  street-door  and  was 
used  for  festive  purposes ;  they  served  as  support  for  an  upper 
gallery.  The  number  seven  is  not  significant ;  either  it  is  merely 
a  round  number,  or  it  indicates  the  usual  architectural  arrange- 
ment of  the  time.  —  The  verse  easily  lends  itself  to  allegorizing 

*  Heb. :  hewn.  f  Heb. :  she  cries. 

X  Heb. :  ye  foolish,  or,  possibly,  the  foolish  (or,  simple'). 


IX.  1-2  1 85 

and  spiritualizing  interpretation,  and  has  been  understood  in  this 
way  from  an  early  period.  The  Midrash  takes  Wisdom  to  be  the 
Law,  which  created  all  the  worlds ;  Procopius  :  the  enhypostatic 
power  of  God  the  Father  prepared  the  whole  cosmos  as  its  abode  ; 
Rashi :  God  by  wisdom  created  the  world.  The  seven  pillars 
have  been  explained  as  the  seven  firmaments  or  heavens,  or  the 
seven  regions  or  climates  (Midrash)  ;  the  seven  days  of  creation, 
or  the  seven  books  of  the  Law*  (Rashi)  ;  the  seven  charismata 
or  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Procop.,  Bernard,  De.)  ;  the  seven 
eras  of  the  Church  (Vitringa)  ;  the  seven  sacraments,  or  the  om- 
nipotent word  of  the  Son  of  God  (Geier)  ;  the  prophets,  apostles, 
and  martyrs  (J.  H.  Mich.)  ;  the  seven  liberal  arts  (Heid.)  ;  the 
seven  first  chapters  of  Proverbs  (Hitz.).t  These  interpretations 
carry  their  refutation  on  their  face.  The  allegorical  element  in 
the  paragraph  is  simply  the  representation  of  Wisdom  as  hostess, 
dispensing,  in  her  own  house,  instruction,  here  symbolized  by 
food  and  drink.  —  2.  Parallels,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary. 
In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  is  literally  slain  her  slaying  —  killed  her  beasts. 
Meat  and  wine  are  mentioned  as  the  chief  materials  of  a  feast  (so 
I  Sam.  1 6^  Dan.  lo^).  Meat  was  eaten  by  the  Jews  probably  not 
daily,  but  on  special  occasions  (festivals),  which  had  a  religious 
character.  J  Fermented  wine  (Yith.  yayin^  was  a  common  article 
of  food  (i  Sam.  16-"  Job  i^^  i/^  104^^).  It  was  mixed  with  spices 
to  make  it  more  pleasant  to  the  taste  (Isa.  5"  \^  102^*^"^).  The 
Greeks  commonly  mixed  their  wine  with  water  in  a  bowl  {krater), 
and  the  Grk.  here  introduces  this  term  :  she  has  mixed  her  wine 
in  a  krater ;  to  drink  unmixed  wine  was  considered  by  them  un- 
seemly (Plato,  Laws,  I.  g).  Which  sort  of  mixing  is  here  intended 
is  uncertain.  —  The  table,  originally  a  leather  mat  or  other  mate- 
rial laid  on  the  ground  (as  among  the  Arabs  to-day),  came  at  an 
early  time  among  the  Hebrews  to  be  a  raised  tray  or  board  at 

*  Gen.  ii  and  Num.  lo^s  {when  the  ark  set  forward,  etc.)  were  regarded,  on 
account  of  their  importance,  as  separate  books. 

t  For  other  interpretations  see  notes  of  Geier,  Vitringa,  De. 

X  For  the  preexihan  custom  see  Dt.  1220-  21  i423-27_  and  for  the  later  usage  Lev. 
17.3. 4. 13 ;  cf.  note  on  Pr.  7l'4.  The  daily  provision  of  meat  on  the  king's  table 
(i  K.  423  [58])  was  probably  connected  with  a  daily  sacrifice.  In  our  verse  Grk. 
has  slain  her  offerings.  The  use  of  meat  is  comparatively  rare  in  Palestine  at  the 
present  day. 


1 86  PROVERBS 

which  people  sat  on  stools  (so,  perhaps,  i  Sam.  20"^)  or  reclined 
on  divans  (Am.  6^) ;  cf.  the  tables  of  the  Temple  (Ez.  40^^  Ex. 
25^).  —  3.  Continuous,  ternary.  The  fuai dens  are  the  necessary 
machinery  of  invitation,  not  to  be  explained  allegorically  as  signi- 
fying preachers  of  righteousness;  the  householder  (as  in  Mt.  22^) 
bids  her  guests  through  servants,  who  thus  (as  sometimes  now) 
take  the  place  of  letters.  The  term  is  a  general  one  for  young 
women,  sometimes  free  and  unservile  (Gen,  24"  Ru.  2^  Esth.  2^), 
sometimes,  as  here,  attendants  (so  27-''  31^^),  apparently  not 
slaves.  —  According  to  our  Heb.  text  {she  cries)  she  herself  also, 
not  content  with  sending  messages,  gives  her  invitation  on  the 
thoroughfares  of  the  city  (lit.  high  places),  elevated  places  where 
one  could  easily  be  seen  and  heard  (see  note  on  8^)  ;  these  have, 
of  course,  no  connection  with  the  old  shrines  called  highplaces  in 
the  prophetical  and  historical  books.  It  is  not  clear  whether  it  is 
thus  intended  to  represent  her  (as  in  i-"-^^  8^"^)  as  going  forth  to 
places  of  public  resort,  or  (as  might  be  suggested  by  the  parallel 
v."  below)  as  having  her  house  and  her  seat  in  an  elevated  part  of 
the  city.  But  the  syntax  and  sense  of  the  Heb.  are  unsatisfac- 
tory, and  the  change  of  one  letter  gives  the  reading  she  has  sent 
forth  her  maidens  to  cry ;  this  is  not  out  of  accord  with  v.*,  in 
which  the  proclamation  may  be  understood  to  be  made  by  Wis- 
dom through  the  messengers.  In  the  Grk.  she  cries  not  on  the 
heights,  but  with  a  loud  voice,  but  this  reading  is  improbable.  — 
4.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  invitation  is  addressed  to  the 
simple  and  void  of  understanding,  those  who  have  not  moral 
insight  and  power  of  self-direction,  the  negative,  unformed  minds, 
not  yet  given  up  to  sin,  but  in  danger  of  becoming  its  dupes ;  the 
steadfastly  good  and  the  deliberately  evil  are  not  considered  — 
the  former  do  not  need  guidance,  the  latter  will  not  accept  it. 
Obviously,  however,  the  author  does  not  mean  to  exclude  any 
class  of  persons  from  the  counsels  of  Wisdom ;  he  writes  as  a 
practical  moralist,  and  represents  the  simple  as  her  natural  hearers. 
—  The  division  of  the  verse  is  unusual ;  the  second  clause,  instead 
of  continuing  the  exhortation  of  the  first,  introduces  a  new  for- 
mula of  address ;  some  expositors,  following  the  Grk.  of  v."^, 
would  write  :  whoso  is  devoid  of  understanding,  I  say  to  him,  etc. ; 
but  this  would  not  be  a  natural  form  of  address  —  see  note  on  v.^'^. 


IX.  2-6  18; 

—  5.  Parallels,  ternary.  The  invitation  in  figurative  form.  Bread, 
which  here  takes  the  place  of  the  incat  or  flesh  of  beasts  of  v.-,  is 
also  a  necessary  part  of  the  feast.  —  6.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
The  invitation  in  literal,  explanatory  form.  The  Heb.  reads  :  for- 
sake, ye  simple  (RV.  incorrectly  :  leave  off,  ye  simple  ones'),  an  in- 
complete sentence,  since  the  verb  requires  an  object,  as  in  2'^  3'^ 
4-,  etc. ;  the  object  can  hardly  be  the  simple  (AV.  forsake  the 
foolish),  for  this  would  be  a  singular  admonition  to  the  simple, 
and  the  parallelism  calls  for  an  abstract  noun  as  object.  Some 
(as  Kamp.)  suppose  the  object  to  have  fallen  out  of  the  text,  and 
leave  a  blank ;  others  (De.,  Now.,  Str.)  supply  simplicity  as  object : 
forsake,  ye  simple,  simplicity.  A  better  expedient  is,  by  a  slight 
change  in  the  Heb.  word,  to  read  (as  in  the  Grk.)  simplicity  or 
folly  ;  Luther  :  verlasset  das  alberne  wesen  ;  cf.  i^^.  The  v^oxA  folly 
(which  might  easily  have  fallen  out  on  account  of  its  resemblance 
to  the  preceding)  may  be  added  ;  but  the  resulting  clause  will  be 
less  rhythmical.  —  Grk. :  Forsake  folly,  that  ye  Jiiay  reign  forever ; 
and  seek  discretioji,  and  direct  understanding  in  (or,  by)  knowl- 
edge—  a  misreading  and  expansion  of  the  Hebrew.  For  the 
reign  cf.  Wisd.  Sol.  6-^ 

IX.  1.  l^niDDn;  see  note  on  i^o.  —  |^  nDsn;  (g  iiTTTypeto-ei',  =  na>xn  (Vogel), 
from  ai'j;  S>^  nriD:;D;  3C  HT'n;';  Si  .■^s'^ps;  this  reading  is  favored  by  the  par- 
allelism.—  2.  After  hddo  (@  has  ei's  Kparripa,  =  Dra,  probably  not  in  original 
|§  (fallen  out  by  resemblance  to  preceding  word,  Lag.),  but  addition  of  Grk. 
scribe  for  completeness.  —  On  ]rb'^  s.  Moore,  on  Ju.  i'^.  —  3.  (H  Soi^Xous,  perh. 
rhetorical  generalization  of  gender,  or  scribal  error,  possibly  (Lag.)  suggested 
to  a  Christian  scribe  by  Mt.  22^.  — 1§  mp  id^d  isj  '?>;  <a'\p~;  (S  ffvyKoXovda  /j^tcl 
v\l/rj\ov  KrjpvyfxoLTos,  p  being  taken  as  a  form  of  Nip,  and  'p  'D  as  adverbial  expres- 
sion. (§  does  not  take  •'cnn  as  =  heights  ;  the  word  appears  to  mean  raised 
streets  here  and  in  8'^  gi'*.  The  addition  ctti  KpaTrjpa  of  (5  appears  to  be  erro- 
neous insertion  from  preceding  verse.  3L,  freely;  ad arceiii  et  ad moenia  civita- 
tis.  1^  N-\pn  makes  a  difficulty;  we  expect  a  reference  to  the  maidens,  as  in 
,S2C3L,  reading  njxip.-i  or  S'np'-',  and  this  form  should  probably  be  adopted,  in 
spite  of  the  3  p.  sing.  moN  of  v.^.  —  ||J  qj  only  here  and  in  Ex.  ^x^-^  where  it 
=  body  ;  Aram,  and  Assyr.,  wing ;  the  stem  appears  to  mean  curved,  arched ; 
"13J  *?;'  here  =  '?;•,  if  the  text  be  correct;  cf.  idJ3  Ex.  21^,  =  in  himself.  —  4.  For 
3^  mcN  Oort  al.  would  read  i  p.  ir:N  or  \-nDN,  but  the  change  is  unnecessary.  — 
Gr. :  1*7  mDNi  njn  ipi  aS  loni  ^pd  ic.  —  5.  @  plu.  dpruv,  as  in  ao^^  Gen.  14^8 
etc.,  free  use  of  Grk.  idiom,  not  (Lag.)  allusion  to  Eucharist  (Jno.  6). — 
6.  f^  a''Nna;  (@  dcppoavviiv,  and  so  all  other  Vrss.;  read  td,  as  the  sense 
requires;   this  word  may  have  been  read  '\ns  and  so  expanded  into  D^niJ  and 


I 88  PROVERBS 

D1NPD.  —  Gi'k.  expansion  may  have  come  from  change  of  ^rjaere  into  ^7}T7)(xaTe, 
and  introduction  of  clause  from  Wisd.  Sol.  6^'  (Lag.) ;  Baumg.  suggests  that 
the  Grk.  translator  wrote  /StwcrijTe,  which  was  corrupted  (perh.  under  influence 
of  WS.  6^^)  into  ^affiXeiffTjTe,  and  that  k.  fr/r.  (ppov.  was  then  added  to  com- 
plete the  parallelism.     Cf.  Lag.,  Pink. 

13-18.  The  mvitation  of  Folly.  —  The  section  is  parallel  to 
v.^"^,  and  should  be  transferred  to  this  place.  The  central  figure 
plays  a  part  corresponding  to  and  contrasted  with  that  of  Wisdom 
above.  She  is  described  as  noisy  (v.^^),  sitting  in  a  pubHc  place 
(v.^*),  calling  to  passers-by  (v.^^),  inviting  the  simple  to  come  to 
her  (v,^*^),  promising  them  stolen  pleasures  (v.^''),  which,  the  sage 
adds,  lead  to  death  (v.^^).  The  two  sections  give  the  contrast 
between  rectitude  and  sexual  debauchery.  Cf.  5®""°  7^*^*^  From 
the  "abrupt"  way  in  which  this  paragraph  is  introduced  (without 
such  preparatory  statement  as  is  found  inv.^-),  its  only  ground 
being  the  contrast  with  Wisdom's  invitation,  Frankenberg  con- 
cludes that  it  is  not  the  work  of  the  author  of  chs.  1-9  ;  the  writer 
of  v.^^*'''-,  he  observes,  regarded  the  harlot  of  chs.  5  and  7  as  merely 
a  personification  of  Folly  —  a  view  which  appears  in  the  Grk. 
and  has  survived  till  now.  Certainly  the  picture  in  v.'^"^-  is  based 
in  part  on  chs.  5  and  7,  but  this  fact  hardly  points  to  diff'erence  of 
authorship ;  nor  is  it  introduced  with  undue  abruptness  (if  it 
assumes  v.^"**)  ;  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  because  Folly 
is  here  the  harlot  of  chs.  5  and  7  that  the  writer  did  not  regard 
this  latter  personage  as  a  real  woman;  in  chs.  2.  5.  6.  7  Folly  is 
identified  with  sexual  immorality. 

13.  []  Folly  is  loud  and  'seductive,' 
She  knows  no  <  shame  '  (  ?) 

14.  At  the  door  of  her  house  she  sits, 
On  []  *  the  thoroughfares  of  the  city, 

15.  To  call  to  the  passers-by. 

To  those  who  are  going  their  ways : 

16.  "  Whoso  is  simple,  let  him  turn  in  hither  "  ! 

And  to  him  who  is  void  of  understanding  she  says ; 

17.  "  Stolen  waters  are  sweet. 

And  bread  eaten  in  secret  is  pleasant  "  ! 

18.  But  he  knows  not  that  the  Shades  are  there, 
That  her  guests  are  in  the  depths  of  Sheol. 

*  Heb. :  on  a  seat  in  (or,  near). 


IX.  13-14  189 

13.  Rhythm  uncertain.  Folly's  character.  The  text  is  doubt- 
ful. Heb.  :  The  foolish  woman  (lit.  woman  of  folly)  is  boisterous 
(or,  loud),  simplicity,  and  knows  not  what  (or,  perhaps,  anything)  ; 
Grk.  :  A  foolish  and  impudent  woman  comes  to  lack  a  morsel,  she 
ivho  knows  not  shame  ;  Syr.  :  A  woman  lacking  in  discretion,  seduc- 
tive ;  Targ.  :  A  woman  foolish  and  a  gadabout,  ignorant,  and  she 
knozvs  not  good ;  Lat.  :  A  woman  foolish  and  noisy,  and  full  of 
wiles,  and  knowing  nothing  at  all.  —  From  a  comparison  with  the 
parallel  v.^  it  appears  probable  that  the  woman  of  the  Hebrew  is 
a  gloss  by  a  scribe  who  wished  to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the 
fact  that  folly  was  a  personification ;  this  being  omitted.  Folly 
stands  opposed  to  Wisdom.  The  rendering  Madam  Folly  (taking 
woman  of  folly  as  =  the  womati  folly  —  so  De.,  Karap.)  is  hardly 
allowable;  elsewhere  (11^^  12*  21^-^^  25-^27^^  311°)  the  defining 
noun  after  woman  has  adjectival  force.  The  word  rendered  Folly 
(fem.)  occurs  only  here  in  OT. ;  the  corresponding  masc.  form  is 
frequent  in  Prov.;  see  i"""  3^  81  Instead  of  boisterous  some 
translators  (Str.,  Kamp.,  Frank.)  write  passionate  (sensuously 
excitable),  but  this  sense  for  the  Heb.  term  is  doubtful;  see  notes 
on  i-^  7".  The  expression  simplicity  of  the  Heb.  text  is  sus- 
picious both  from  its  form  (abstract  noun)  and  from  its  meaning 
—  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  folly  is  fooHsh;  the  connection 
favors  a  reading  {seductive,  or  enticing)  like  those  given  by  Syr. 
and  Lat.,  and  this  is  obtained  by  an  inconsiderable  change  of  text. 
The  sense  of  the  last  clause  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  The  Heb. 
hardly  permits  the  translation  she  knozvs  nothing,  and  this,  more- 
over, does  not  comport  with  the  address  and  power  attributed  to 
Folly  in  the  context ;  Folly  is  primarily  a  moral,  not  an  intel- 
lectual term — it  does  not  exclude  ordinary  intelligence  as  the 
sweeping  expression  knows  nothing  appears  to  do,  Grk,  shame 
(which  suits  the  connection)  may  be  doubtfully  adopted;  the 
Heb,  word  which  it  implies  is  used  elsewhere  (18^^  Jer.  51^^  Isa. 
50"  i//  35-''  «/.)  only  in  the  sense  of  obloquy,  never  as  =  the  sense  of 
shame,  though  that  may  be  an  accident  —  the  verb  has  this  mean- 
ing (Ez,  16''^  al).  The  Grk,  rendering  may  be  a  free  interpretation 
of  our  Heb,  text,  as  the  Targ.  good  seems  to  be.  — 14.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.  Folly  sits  in  a  prominent  place,  where  she  can  be 
seen;  Grk.  on  a  seat  in  publi^i  in  the  streets.     Wisdom  (v,^)  cries 


1 90  PROVERBS 

aloud  in  such  places  —  Folly  sits  and  calls;  the  contrast  in  the 
methods  of  the  two  (the  one  sending  out  to  seek  men,  the  other 
sitting  at  home  as  seductress)  does  not  indicate  difference  of  zeal 
—  the  two  descriptions  seem  to  express  the  same  earnestness  —  it 
is  perhaps  meant  to  say  that  Folly,  like  the  unchaste  woman 
whom  she  represents,  the  symbol  of  unlawful  pleasures,  prefers  the 
privacy  of  her  house  (cf.  ch.  7),  while  Wisdom,  the  preacher  of 
righteousness,  boldly  gives  her  invitation  in  open  day  and  in 
public  places  ;  but  the  text  is  not  clear,  and  probably  no  differ- 
ence is  intended  in  the  methods  of  the  two,  unless  it  be  in  the 
sending  out  of  the  maidens.  —  In  second  line  we  should  probably 
read  simply  :  on  the  thoroughfares,  etc.,  as  in  v.^,  instead  of  the 
Heb.  on  a  seat  in,  etc. ;  see  notes  on  8-'  9^.  Folly,  like  Wisdom,  has 
a  house,  in  which  she  sets  a  feast ;  the  description  of  the  prepara- 
tions (cf  v.^-  ^)  is  omitted,  probably  as  an  unnecessary  repetition. 
— 15-17.  Her  invitation,  parallel  to  that  of  Wisdom  (v.*^)  ;  v.^^ 
=  v.* ;  v.'^  corresponds  to  v.^^  — 15.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary. 
She  addresses  herself  to  the  passers-by  (so  W^isdom,  i^-^^  8^~^)> 
remaining,  however,  at  the  door  of  her  house.  The  expression 
those  who  are  going  their  ways  (cl.  2.)  =  the  passers-by  (cl.  i.), 
noX.  who  are  going  straightforward  (^right)  on  their  ways  —  the 
intention  (as  appears  from  the  connection)  is  to  represent  these 
passers  not  as  earnest  persons  bent  on  going  forward  without  turn- 
ing to  right  or  left,  but  as  ordinary  wayfarers,  to  any  and  all  of 
whom  Folly  addresses  herself;  a  similar  verb  {walk)  is  used  in 
V.*';  in  3''  11^  15-^  the  connection  is  different.  — 16.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  See  note  on  v.^.  The  expressions  simple  and  void  of 
understanding,  here  as  there,  mean  lacking  in  knowledge  of  the 
world,  unable  to  recognize  good  and  bad  (cf.  v.^'^).  Instead  of  she 
says  Grk.  has  /  say,  a  reading  which  would  give  unity  of  form  to 
the  invitation  in  this  verse,  yet  is  not  quite  natural,  since  Folly 
would  not  address  her  intended  victims  as  void  of  sense ;  cf.  v.*. — 
17.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  inducement  she  offers  is  the 
delight  of  secret  enjoyments,  things  prohibited  by  law  or  con- 
demned by  society,  more  tempting  because  they  are  forbidden. 
Folly  here  appears  as  identical  with  the  stra?ige  woman  of  chs.  5 
and  7.  Her  ivater  and  bread  are  parallel  to  the  bread  and  wine 
of  Wisdom  (v.^),  only  here  the  feasting  is  clandestine  —  the  refer- 


IX.   i4-i8  191 

ence  is  to  illicit  sexual  relations.  Stolen  waters  (=  any  illicit 
thing)  are  sweet  was  probably  a  current  proverbial  saying  ;  and, 
in  the  term  water,  instead  of  the  more  festive  wine,  there  may  be 
an  allusion  to  the  figure  of  5'^  ^'"',  on  which  see  notes.  — 18.  Synony- 
mous, ternary.  Comment  of  the  sage  :  the  fate  of  Folly's  guests. 
In  2'^  5'  7-"  it  is  said  that  the  licentious  woman's  ways  lead  to 
death;  here,  in  sharper  phrase,  her  house  is  identified  with  the 
Underworld — it  is  already  in  effect  in  the  depths,  and  its  inmates, 
though  they  have  the  semblance  of  life,  are  doomed  and  as  good 
as  dead.  The  death  is  physical,  as  in  the  parallel  passages  cited 
above  ;  the  guests  are  no  doubt  regarded  by  the  writer  as  morally 
dead,  but  that  is  not  the  statement  here.  On  Shades  (Refaim) 
see  note  on  2^*.  The  word  rendered  depths  also  =  valleys,  but, 
from  the  connection  and  from  general  OT.  usage,  this  cannot  be 
understood  as  a  topographical  description  of  Sheol,  an  assertion 
that  it  contains  hills  and  valleys.  It  merely  describes  Sheol  as 
lying  deep  beneath  the  earth,  but  there  is  possibly  an  allusion  to 
the  valley  of  Rephaim,  near  Jerusalem  (2  Sam.  5^^  Isa.  17').  —  The 
simple  youth,  who  yields  to  Folly's  invitation,  is  ignorant  of  his 
danger ;  on  the  class  of  persons  meant  see  note  on  v.^  —  Grk. 
here  adds  four  couplets : 

But  turn  away,  linger  not  in  the  place, 

Nor  set  thine  eye  on  her; 

For  thus  wilt  thou  go  through  alien  water. 

And  pass  over  an  alien  stream. 

But  abstain  from  alien  water, 

Drink  not  of  an  alien  fountain. 

That  thou  mayst  live  long. 

That  years  of  life  may  be  added  to  thee. 

This  is  the  addition  of  a  scribe  who  felt  that  the  curt  ending  of 
the  text  needed  a  hortatory  complement ;  it  mars  the  poetic  unity 
and  vigor  of  the  paragraph.  The  figure  of  the  three  first  couplets 
is  taken  from  5^^*^- ;  the  last  couplet  (a  familiar  expression)  is 
nearly  the  same  as  v."  of  this  chapter. 

13.  5^  m'^-DD  and  moo  are  air.  \ey.  (both  probably  Aram,  forms) ;  the 
latter  may  come  from  a  st.  "'""i  (01s.),  the  rt-vowel  being  preserved  by  the 
doubling  of  the  Yod;  De.,  following  Qamhi  <^Miklol,  181  «),  points  nvno; 
from  ins  we  should  have  pvpd.  Oort  proposes  Pi.  nno::,  which  may  help  to 
account  for  (5  ^vSctJs  \po)fj.ov  (from  ja  and  ro);  Jager  points  out  that  @  in- 


192  PROVERBS 

volves  a  form  of  nc.  The  connection  favors  the  reading  nnoc,  =  enticing. — 
In  niS^D:)  nu'N  the  'd  cannot  be  appositional  definitive  (De.).  There  is  no 
example  in  OT.  of  a  determinative  standing  in  apposition  v^^ith  a  single  noun 
in  Stat,  const,  (irs  n3  is  not  a  case  in  point,  for  's  here  is  local  definition  of 
'2) ;  on  the  construction  called  suspended  determination  (where  one  noun 
defines  two  in  stat.  const.,  these  being  in  app.  with  each  other)  see  Ew.  §  289  c; 
Ges.26  §  1 30.  5 ;  Moore, y;/a^('5,  on  Ju.  ig^-;  Driver,  Z>('i<A,  on  Dt.  21  ^^  Every- 
where else  in  Prov.  nti'X  is  defined  by  the  following  noun.  '2  here  is  parallel 
to  niDon  in  v.i,  and  ntt'X  must  be  omitted  as  gloss,  intended  to  indicate  that  the 
n'^DD  was  to  be  understood  as  a  personification  (a  woman).  Graetz  would 
write  it  Dc'x  and  attach  it  to  preceding  verse  —  a  possible  construction  (though 
Di'N  does  not  occur  elsewhere  with  Ni'j),  but  the  rhythm  is  against  the  addi- 
tion of  a  word  in  v.^^.  —  In  nn  Jag.,  Hitz.,  Lag.,  Graetz,  al.  see  the  remains 
of  noSa  ((5  al(Tx^>'V'')j  an  attractive  reading  (cf.  Jer.  3^)  if  '3  may  be  under- 
stood as  meaning  the  feeling  of  shame;  this  sense  it  has  nowhere  else  in  OT. 
(though  dS:),  Ni.  and  Hof.,  is  so  employed)  —  elsewhere  it  =  opprobrium. 
na  is  always  to  be  taken  as  interrog.,  direct  or  indirect,  even  in  Gen.  38^;  we 
might  here  read  ncixn  (as  in  Gen.  39®),  but  the  connection  does  not  favor 
the  resulting  sense.  We  may  doubtfully  read  noS;3  —  less  well  (Frank.)  oS^n 
(Jer.  S^-).  — 14.  ||J  mp  ■'Dt:,  of  which  (5  ifxcpavCis  ev  ir'Kareiais  may  be  free 
rendering  (see  the  wholly  different  wording  of  (3  in  v.^) ;  it  would  seem  that 
(5  takes  iDlD  as  =  streets  or  squares  ;  see  note  on  this  v.  above.  ^T  xj^a';Ji  NDi 
and  <S  Nm  (omitting  the  last  word)  also  represent  |§,  except  that  ^  appar- 
ently read  some  form  of  ipi  instead  of  n-ip  (Oort).  ||J  is  suspicious;  for 
NDJ  we  should  probably  read  •'SJ,  as  in  v.^.  If  our  text  be  retained,  it  would 
be  better  to  insert  3  before  'p  'c,  which  expression  may,  however  (Fleisch.) 
be  taken  as  adverbial.  — 15.  |§  ani"_D  ((S  KaTevQiivovTas)  may  be  taken  in 
the  sense  of  IL  pergcntes,  or  we  may  substitute  the  stem  "xv^,  as  m  4^*.  — 
16.  pj  mcN-;  (5  and  <S  have  i  p.  (the  3  p.  occurs  in  Clem.  Al.) ;  the  3  p.,  as 
the  harder,  is  to  be  retained.  — 17.  (§  inverts  the  order  of  clauses  of  |^,  but 
gives  no  suggestion  for  change  of  our  text.  —  18.  (5  6  5^  ou/c  oi^iv  5ti  yrijevecs 
(a^NSl)  Trap  avrrj  (ar)  bWvvrai  (iDDtr)  /cai  inl  irirevpov  g.dov  (SlNlS'  pDj;i) 
(TvvavTf  (mp).  On  yTjyevels  cf.  note  on  2^^;  other  renderings  of  -\  in  (5  are 
vEKpoi,  ylyavTes;  see  Schleusner.  "HL,  interpreting:  pn  nS^flX  n^jJT  that  she 
cast  dozvn  the  giants  there.  —  On  the  added  couplets  in  (5S  see  note  above. 

7-12.  A  little  group  of  aphorisms,  belonging  in  the  body 
of  the  Book;  see  parallel  proverbs  in  13'  15^"  19"^  lo*-^^  16-^"^ 
10-'  ii^'-*,  and  also  i'  \p  iii^".  They  are  probably  the  insertion  of 
a  scribe  who  found  this  a  convenient  place  for  introducing  into  his 
manuscript  a  collection  which  was  in  his  possession,  or,  possibly, 
they  are  here  placed  in  order  to  separate  the  description  of  detest- 
able Folly  from  that  of  divine  Wisdom.  Grk.  (see  below)  ex- 
pands v.^^  with  remarks  which  are  apparently  designed  to  pave 


IX.  7-9  193 

the  way  to  the  following  section.  The  Hebrew  scribe  makes  six 
couplets,  so  that  this  may  agree  in  length  with  the  other  sections. 
A  certain  logical  order  has  been  observed  :  v.'^  and  v.'^  accord  in 
thought,  and  so  v."*  and  v.^,  and  v.^°  and  v."  ;  v.^^  stands  by  itself, 
and  may  be  an  afterthought. 

7-9.  Results  of  instruction  given  to  different  classes  of  persons. 

7.  He  who  corrects  a  scoffer  gets  insult, 

And  he  who  reproves  a  wicked  man,  reviling. 

8.  Reprove  not  a  scoffer  lest  he  hate  thee; 
Reprove  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  love  thee. 

9.  Give  (instruction)  to  a  wise  man,  and  he  will  be  yet  wiser; 
Teach  a  righteous  man,  and  he  will  gain  more  instruction. 

7.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  scoffer.  On  scoffer  see  note  on 
I",  and  cf.  13^-  ^^  15''  23^.  The  term  is  here  substantially  equivalent 
to  the  wicked  of  second  cl.,  but  further  describes  the  bad  man,  the 
enemy  of  wisdom,  as  one  who  actively  rejects,  despises,  and  mocks 
at  true  principles  of  life ;  the  wicked  is,  in  general,  one  who  ha- 
bitually does  wrong,  and  is  to  be  condemned  in  a  tribunal  of  jus- 
tice. Such  persons  are  thought  of  as  past  reformation,  so  that  he 
who  tries  to  better  them  does  them  no  good,  but  only  brings  on 
himself  insult  and  reviling.  The  first  of  these  terms  signifies 
originally  littleness,  despicableness  (so  Partcp.  in  12^),  then  dis- 
grace {■^  6^^)  and,  actively,  belittling,  reproach,  reviling,  insult 
(18^) .  The  second,  as  it  stands  in  the  Heb.,  is  literally  spot,  blem- 
ish, physical  (Cant.  4''  Dan.  i^),  or  ceremonial  (Nu.  19",  and  so 
everywhere  in  the  Pentateuch,  except  Dt.  32^,  where  the  text  is 
corrupt) ;  in  Job  11'^  (if  the  text  be  correct)  it  appears  to  mean 
apprehension,  fear,  or,  perhaps,  consciousness  of  guilt  (but  these 
interpretations  are  somewhat  forced).  Here  the  text  is  doubtful, 
but  the  parallelism  calls  for  a  word  =  insult. — The  point  of  view 
of  the  verse  is  similar  to  that  of  those  sociologists  who  recognize  a 
class  of  "  incapables."  —  8.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  scoffer  and 
the  wise  man.  The  first  clause  repeats  the  thought  of  the  preced- 
ing verse,  the  second  contrasts  the  conduct  of  the  wise  man  under 
reproof;  cf.  15^  10.12.32^  ^\\}ci  which  verses  our  v.''-^  might  properly  be 
put.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  wise  man.  See  i^  10^  12^^  14® 
15^^,  and  especially  21".  Wise  and  righteous  are  here  put  as  iden- 
tical, as  throughout  the  Book,  particularly  in  10^-22^^.     The  teach- 


194  PROVERBS 

ableness  of  the  wise  is  allied  to  humility  —  it  is  the  opposite  of 
the  posture  of  mind  implied  in  the  term  scoffer, 

lo.    The  beginning  of  wisdom  is  the  fear  of  Yahweh, 

And  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  One  is  understanding. 

Synonymous,  quaternary-  (or,  ternary-)  ternary.  The  verse  is 
related  in  a  general  way  to  the  preceding  context ;  the  first  cl.  is 
found  substantially  in  i'  (with  inversion  of  subject  and  predicate) 
and  i//  1 1 1^".  In  second  cl.,  instead  of  knowledge  of  {  =  fear  of,  obe- 
dience to)  the  Holy  One  a  number  of  versions  and  expositors  *  have 
knowledge  (or,  counsel)  of  holy  men  (the  Heb.  word  is  plu.),  = 
either  the  knowledge  which  good  men  possess,  or  that  which  makes 
men  good ;  but  the  parallelism  obviously  demands  a  reference  to 
God.  The  plu.  word  is  used  of  men  (Israelites)  in  t/^  34^"  Dan.  8-*, 
of  angels  in  Zech.  14'  Job  5'  15''  i//  89*  (and  Aramaic,  Dan.  4^''"^), 
but  of  God  only  here  and  30^  (the  sing,  is  common).  The  plu. 
(here  probably  used  as  expressing  extent  and  majesty)  may  have 
been  suggested  by  the  plu.  form  Elohim  for  God,  or  it  may  have 
arisen  in  the  same  way  (an  original  mass  of  divine  beings  in  a 
community  afterwards  conceived  of  as  one  being) ;  cf.  plu.  for 
Creator,  Eccl.  12^  f  and  Aram.  Heavens,  =  God,  Dan.  4-*"--^^  The 
term  belongs  to  the  later,  more  refined,  vocabulary,  which  sought 
to  designate  the  divine  Being  by  his  ethical  qualities.  —  On  the 
thought  see  note  on  i" ;  knowledge  of  the  divine  will  is  theoretical 
wisdom,  but  cannot  be  separated  from  reverence  (=  obedience), 
which  is  practical  wisdom.  The  divine  law  here  had  in  mind  is 
ethical,  not  ritual,  and  obedience  to  it  is  held  to  secure  prosperity. 

II.    For  by  me  will  thy  days  be  multiplied, ' 
And  the  years  of  thy  life  increased. 

Synonymous,  ternary.  Instead  of  by  me,  Syr.  Targ.  (and  appar- 
ently Grk.,  in  this  way)  have  by  it,  which  effects  some  connection 
with  the  preceding  verse,  the  //  being  the  fear  or  the  knowledge  of 
God.  But  this  connection  is  not  quite  natural  (we  should  perhaps 
expect  rather  them  than  it,  and  the  for  is  not  appropriate),  and  it 

*  Grk.,  Vulg.,  Luther,  AV.,  Procop.,  Rashi,  J.  H.  Mich.,  al. 

+  The  clause  Eccl.  12!*  probably  does  not  belong  to  the  original  form  of  the 
verse,  but  it  shows  the  linguistic  usage  of  the  later  period.  Bickell's  emendation 
thy  ■wife,  instead  of  thy  Creator,  is,  on  exegetical  grounds,  out  of  the  question. 


IX.  9-12  195 

may  be  just  as  well  to  retain  our  Heb.  text,  and  regard  the  verse 
as  the  only  surviving  part  of  a  paragraph,  the  me  referring  to 
wisdojji  mentioned  in  a  lost  couplet.  The  general  sense  is  not 
affected  by  this  difference  of  reading.  There  is  no  connection 
with  v".  For  the  thought  see  3--^"  10-"  19-^  in  which  long  life  is 
the  reward  of  fearing  God. 

12.    If  thou  art  wise,  thou  art  wise  for  thyself, 

And,  if  thou  art  a  scoffer,  thou  alone  must  bear  (the  consequences). 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Of  this  verse  (which  is  quite  isolated,  hav- 
ing no  connection  with  the  context,  and  no  parallel  in  the  whole 
Book)  we  have  two  forms,  in  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek.  The 
Hebrew,  given  above,  affirms  sharply  the  principle  of  individual 
responsibility,  generalizing  the  idea  of  Ez.  iS*  {he  who  sins,  he 
\_alone']  shall  die) ;  the  prophet  declares  that  every  Israelite  shall 
bear  the  consequences  of  his  sin — the  sage  extends  the  princi- 
ple to  all  moral  life,  a  principle  certainly  involved  everywhere  in 
Proverbs,  but  nowhere  else  expressed  under  the  form  of  moral 
isolation.  The  writer  has  in  mind,  however,  not  a  selfish  isolation 
(it  is  not  the  command  Ihoi/  shall  be  wise),  but  the  impossibility 
of  vicariousness  in  the  moral  life.  —  Grk.  (followed  by  Syr.)  reads  : 
If  thou  be  wise,  for  thxself  thoii  shall  be  wise  and  for  thy  neighbors, 
but  if  thou  prove  evil,  thou  alone  shall  bear  the  evil ;  the  first  cl. 
may  also  be  rendered  :  if  thou  be  wise  for  thyself,  thou  shall  be 
wise  for  thy  neighbors  also  —  the  general  sense  remains  the  same, 
the  man  is  inseparably  connected,  on  his  good  side,  with  his  fel- 
lows. This  pleasant,  but  untrue,  affirmation,  that  a  man's  good- 
ness benefits  his  fellows,  while  his  evil  affects  only  himself,  looks 
like  the  effort  of  an  editor  to  relieve  the  apparent  selfishness  of 
the  verse.  It  is  hardly  correct  to  say  (Jager)  that  the  thou  alone 
of  the  Heb.  in  second  cl.  indicates,  by  contrast,  the  presence  of 
and  for  thy  neighbor  in  first  cl. ;  the  alone  is  merely  the  definite 
statement  in  one  line  of  the  aloneness  which  is  involved  in  the  par- 
allel line.  A  change  from  the  Grk.  form  to  that  of  the  Heb.  is  less 
probable  than  a  change  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  the  latter 
should  therefore  be  retained  as  probably  the  original.     After  v.^^ 

Grk.  adds  : 

Who  stays  himself  on  lies  he  feeds  on  wind, 

And  he  will  follow  after  winged  birds. 


196  PROVERBS 

The  ways  of  his  own  vineyard  he  forsakes, 

And  wanders  from  the  paths  of  his  own  husbandry. 

He  passes  through  a  waterless  waste, 

Through  a  land  given  over  to  drought, 

And  with  his  hands  he  gathers  barrenness. 

Before  line  7  Bickell,  to  complete  the  couplet,  inserts  : 
He  sows  on  an  untilled,  waterless  soil. 

This  paragraph  appears  to  be  an  amplified  form  of  a  Hebrew 
original,  taken,  perhaps,  as  Bickell  suggests,  from  a  current  collec- 
tion of  aphorisms.  The  thought  is  vigorous,  but  the  paragraph 
certainly  does  not  belong  in  this  place,  nor  did  it  form  a  part  of 
the  original  Book  of  Proverbs,  with  whose  literary  style  it  does  not 
agree.  The  liar  is  compared  to  a  neglectful  husbandman  who 
comes  to  grief.  With  feeds  on  wind  cf.  Eccl.  i",  and  with  the 
second  line,  27*  2f. 

7.  Pi''  is  reproduced  by  (gABSai.  |(^.  instead  of  noD  reprover  H-P  23.  68. 
109.  147.  al.  S"  S3r  had  (the  Grk.  and  S"  in  a  doublet  line)  nriDh  reproofs, 
which  does  not  agree  with  the  parallelism  (cf.  Pink.).  ©Aaj.  ^co/xTjo-erai  eavrSv 
=  1DID  or  iS  Die,  and  so  probably  the  /xciXwTres  ai)rv  of  H-P  23  a/,  (the  Aram. 
or^  7voimd,  scar,  proposed  by  Lag.,  seems  unnecessary).  p|  is  better  read 
iS  DID,  though  'D  is  suspicious;  whether  it  can  be  taken  as  =  itisuK  or  indig- 
nity, as  the  parallelism  requires,  is  doubtful,  but  no  satisfactory  emendation 
of  the  text  suggests  itself;  possibly  we  should  read  noSa.  —  Gr.  n^DiDi  f^  id'' 
jSp  "^  nri"?  IDID  yanV.  —  8.  The  ®  MSS.  add  a  positive  doublet  of*  in  varying 
forms.  —  9.  The  apparently  incomplete  expression  |n  is  variously  supplemented 
by  the  Vrss.;  (5  (followed  by  <S1L)  adds  d4>opiJ.riv  opportwiity  ;  W  writes  iSn. 
The  rhythm  does  not  suggest  an  omission  in  pj,  which  is  intelligible  also  as  it 
stands;  but  the  insertion  of  a  word  (=  instructioii)  in  a  translation  is  allowable. 
— 10.  1^  Dic'-ip  is  rendered  as  plu.  in  all  extant  Vrss.  (the  readings  of  the  Hex. 
are  not  known)  except  S^^*',  and  Saadia;  it  seems  then  to  have  been  under- 
stood (except  perh.  in  ®)  as  =  righteous  ftien.  —  (5  adds  at  end :  to  yap  yvQivai 
pSfjLov  diavolas  iffrlv  dya0rjs,  the  remark  of  a  legalistic  scribe,  here  out  of  place. 
—  For  variant  expressions  in  Clem.  Al.  (which,  however,  do  not  necessarily 
mean  different  MS.  readings)  see  H-P  and  Lag.  — 11.  pj  ^3  is  followed  by  IL 
only;  S3C  nj;  (5  toiJtv  T(f  rpdvip,  probably  =  n3;  see  note  on  this  verse 
above.  — 1§  ifl^Dr  must  be  taken  with  indef.  subject,  but  we  should  perh.  read 
Nifal.  — 12.  On  the  addition  of  (5  in  "  Kal  tois  irX-qalov  see  note  on  this  verse 
above,  and  on  aeavri^  Deissmann,  Bihelstud.,  p.  i2of.  On  the  added  couplets 
see  notes  of  Lag.  and  Baumg.,  and  for  a  translation  of  them  into  Heb.  see 
De.  (the  Germ.  ed.  —  the  translation  is  omitted  in  the  Eng.  translation). 


II.     DETACHED  APHORISMS  (X.  i-XXII.  i6). 

On  the  constitution  and  date  of  this  division  see  the  Introduc- 
tion. The  title  Proverbs  of  Solojiion  belongs  to  the  whole  division. 
The  proverbs  will  be  arranged  in  groups  as  far  as  their  subject- 
matter  allows.     Ben-Sira  is  to  be  compared  throughout. 

X.  The  main  thought  is  that  moral  goodness  and  industry 
bring  prosperity,  and  wickedness  and  indolence  adversity  —  the 
portraiture  is  broad,  not  going  into  particulars.  The  parallelism 
is  generally  antithetic. 

1.  Wise  and  foolish  youth. 

A  wise  son  makes  a  glad  father, 

But  a  foolish  son  is  a  grief  to  his  mother. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf.  19""  2  8^  Wise  =  discreet,  living  a 
good  Hfe  morally  and  industrially.  We  pass  now  from  the  philo- 
sophical conception  of  chs.  1-9,  in  which  wisdom  is  a  lore,  the 
subject-matter  and  product  of  organized  instruction,  to  the  every- 
day common-sense  view  of  wisdom  as  general  soundness  and  pro- 
priety of  conduct.  The  difference  is  not,  however,  to  be  pressed 
very  far  —  it  is  largely  one  of  shading ;  the  aphoristic  teaching  of 
chs.  10^-22^",  the  outcome  of  observation  under  a  general  religious 
point  of  view,  is  expanded  in  chs.  1-9  into  discourses  in  which 
life  is  regarded  as  an  organized  whole,  with  wisdom  as  central  and 
governing  principle.  —  The  antithesis  is  symmetrical  and  exact : 
zvise  and  glad  are  contrasted  with  foolish  and  grief.  Glad  and 
grief  relate  primarily  to  external  conditions,  such  as  the  satisfac- 
tion or  worry  which  come  to  parents  from  the  good  or  bad  con- 
duct and  reputation  of  their  children ;  but  the  emotion  founded 
simply  on  affection  is  not  to  be  excluded.  The  interchange  of 
father  and  mother  is  poetical  variation  ;  the  meaning  is  not  that 
the  father  is  more  interested  in  the  wise  son,  and  the  mother  in 
the  foolish  son  (special  maternal  tenderness  for  a  feeble  or  erring 

197 


198  PROVERBS 

child),  hvX  father  and  mother  stand  each  for  parents.  Similarly,  the 
silence  respecting  the  daughter  is  not  to  be  interpreted  as  showing 
complete  lack  of  interest  in  female  children  ;  it  comes  in  part  from 
the  relatively  greater  seclusion  of  young  unmarried  women,  and 
their  freedom  from  the  grosser  temptations  of  hfe  —  they  might 
naturally  be  passed  over  in  a  book  which  deals  not  with  the 
inward  life,  but  with  visible  conduct  in  the  outward  world  of 
society,  and,  in  fact,  the  unmarried  woman  is  not  mentioned  in 
Proverbs.  The  depraved  woman  is  introduced  as  a  warning  not 
to  women,  but  to  men  ;  the  good  woman  of  ch.  31  is  the  married 
head  of  a  household,  and  is  praised  mainly  for  the  advantages  of 
wealth  and  social  position  which  she  brings  to  her  husband  and 
family.  The  non-mention  of  daughters  and  of  women  in  general 
may,  however,  be  attributed  in  part  to  the  relatively  small  estima- 
tion in  which  women  were  held  in  the  ancient  civilized  world, 
among  Chinese,  Hindoos,  Israelites,  Greeks,  and  Romans.*  —  On 
care  of  daughters  see  BS.  7-'*-^  26^"'^-  42^".  —  Similar  sayings  con- 
cerning good  sons  are  cited  by  Malan  from  the  Ramayana,  Confu- 
cius, Menander,  etc. 

2.  Profits  of  wrong-doing  and  rightdoing. 

Treasures  wrongly  acquired  profit  nothing, 
But  righteousness  delivers  from  death. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  Heb.  has  treasures  of  wickedness, 
=  wealth  acquired  unjustly  (not  stores  or  masses  of  evildoing)  ; 
this  is  contrasted  -with,  justice,  righteousness  as  a  method  of  proce- 
dure in  business-transactions  and  other  affairs  of  life.  Ill-gotten 
wealth,  says  the  writer,  though  it  may  procure  temporary  triumph, 
profits  nothing  in  the  end,  since  violence  and  injustice  are  sure  to 
bring  divine  or  human  (legal  or  private)  vengeance  on  the  man's 
head.  Justice  (=  probity),  on  the  other  hand,  by  avoiding  such 
vengeance  (and  having  the  blessing  of  God),  secures  to  its  pos- 

*  On  the  position  of  women  in  antiquity  see  Revue  Encycloped.,  vi.  (1896),  825  f  ; 
A.  Bebel,  Die  Fran  u.  d.  Sozialismus,  1891  (Eng.  tranl.,  1894)  ;  Th.  Matthias,  Zur 
SteUung  d.  griech.  Frau  in  d.  klaasisch.  Zeit,  1893 ;  Marquardt  and  Mommsen, 
Hdbch.  d.  7-dmisch.  Alterthiimer ,  1871-1888 ;  Gardner  and  Jevons,  Manual  of  Grk. 
Antiq.,  1895 ;  Becker,  Char,  and  Gallns.  As  to  Egypt  cf  Wilkinson,  Anc.  Egypt., 
chs.  2.  5.  8.  etc. 


X.  1-3  199 

sessor  a  long  and  peaceful  life  —  exemption  from  premature  death, 
which  is  regarded  in  OT.  as  a  direct  divine  judgment.  Wealth, 
says  the  sage,  will  not  avert  God's  judgment,  but  righteousness 
secures  his  favor.  For  the  nature  of  the  death  see  notes  on  i^^ 
2^*-^-,  etc. ;  cf.  v.'*'-  ^^-  ""■  ^  of  this  chapter.  That  there  is  no  refer- 
ence to  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  the  grave  appears  from 
the  whole  thought  of  the  Book.  On  the  terms  wickedness,  right- 
eousness see  notes  on  4^'  8^*  i^.  —  As  early  as  the  second  century 
B.C.  (and  perhaps  earlier)  the  term  righteousness  came  to  be  used 
as  equivalent  to  almsgiving,  alms,  as  in  Dan.  ^'^~^\  where  the  king 
is  urged  to  rid  himself  of  the  guilt  of  sin  by  righteousness  defined 
as  showing  kindness  to  the  poor;  and  parallels  to  our  proverb 
are  found  in  Tob.  4^"  12^  BS.  3-^"  29^^  with  substitution  of  aims- 
giimg  for  righteousness ;  in  Tob.  12^  the  two  terms  are  employed 
as  synonyms.  This  usage  occurs  also  in  NT.  (Mt.  6'),  Talmud 
{Succa,  49^),  Midrash  (on  Pr.  21^),  Koran  {^'^^)*  It  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  prominence  which  almsgiving  always  assumes  in 
society  (the  care  of  the  poor  being  the  most  obvious  of  social 
duties)  —  it  naturally  comes  to  be  regarded  as  the  special  indica- 
tion of  a  good  heart,  and  as  a  means  of  wiping  out  guilt  (cf.  the 
analogous  use  in  OT.  of  afflict  one's  self  iox  fast) .  This  idea,  how- 
ever, does  not  seem  to  be  contained  in  our  proverb ;  the  contrast 
appears  to  be  between  probity  and  wickedness  in  general,  though 
it  is  possible  that  the  intention  is  to  put  treasure  acquired  wick- 
edly and  used  selfishly  over  against  wealth  expended  for  the 
needy. 

3.  Desire  fulfilled  and  unfulfilled. 

Yahweh  suffers  not  the  righteous  to  hunger, 
But  he  disappoints  the  desire  of  the  wicked. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  /Righteous  and  wicked  are  used 
in  the  most  general  sense.  The  Heb.  has  the  soul  of  the  righteous, 
where  j-£'///=  the  personality,  with  special  reference  to  desire  or 
appetite,  as  in  Dt.  14-"  ^\l  10  f^  Pr.  13^1  Disappoiiit  is  lit.  thrust 
away,  reject,  put  out  of  consideration.  The  word  here  used  for 
desire  mtd^n^  evil  desire  (cf.  note  on  11")  ;  for  good  desire  another 

*  It  seems  not  to  have  existed  among  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans. 


200  PROVERBS 

term  is  employed  (lo-^  ii"^  al.').  The  point  of  view  (found 
throughout  OT.,  except  in  the  speeches  of  Job  and  in  Eccl.)  is 
that  the  temporal  wants  of  the  righteous  are  provided  for  by  God. 
This  idea  is  expanded  at  greatest  length  in  i/'  37  (see  especially 
v.^^-^),  a  poem  which  seems  to  belong  to  the  same  period  as  the 
central  part  of  Proverbs.  Elsewhere  in  OT.  the  application  is  to 
the  nation,  or  rather  to  the  righteous  part  of  it  (Isa.  7.  8  Ez.  36 
Isa.  53,  the  Psalter  passim).  Founded  on  the  conviction  of  the 
divine  justice,  it  survived  all  changes  of  fortune,  and  in  Proverbs 
is  applied  without  reservation  to  the  individual  man.  In  Wisd. 
Sol.  and  NT.  this  view  is  abandoned,  and  the  reward  of  the  right- 
eous is  sought  in  the  future  life. 

4,  5.   Industry  and  sloth. 

4.  A  slack  hand  makes  poor, 
A  diligent  hand  makes  rich. 

5.  He  who  gathers  in  summer  acts  wisely, 
He  who  sleeps  in  harvest  acts  shamefully. 

4.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf.  i2-*  19^^  22^  6*"""  27^^^  28".  Prob- 
ably based  on  an  old  popular  proverb ;  parallels  are  found  among 
all  peoples.  The  second  line  is  lit. :  the  hand  of  the  diligent 
7nakes  rich.  As  hand  in  OT.  often  —person,  we  may  also  render  : 
The  slothful  becomes  poor,  the  diligent  becomes  rich.  By  the 
change  of  a  vowel  poverty  may  be  read  instead  of  poor,  with  the 
sense  :  The  slothful  gains  povert}>,  the  diligent  gains  wealth,  but 
the  change  is  unnecessary.  The  Vrss.  give  different  readings  : 
poverty  brings  a  man  low  (Grk.  Targ.  Syr.)  ;  or,  a  slack  hand 
brings  poverty  (Lat.).  In  the  first  of  these  the  verb  is,  from  the 
parallelism,  obviously  wrong ;  the  second  is  identical  with  a  read- 
ing given  above.  —  The  Lat.  and  the  Hexaplar  Syriac  here  add 
the  first  couplet  of  the  addition  found  in  Grk.  after  9^^,  which  see ; 
it  seems  here  to  be  the  random  insertion  of  a  scribe.  —  5.  Anti- 
thetic, ternary.  Providence  and  improvidence.  Lit.  is  a  son 
who  acts  wisely,  and  is  a  son  who  acts  shamefully.  The  last  ex- 
pression may  be  rendered,  as  in  RV.,  ivho  causes  shame  (cf.  28^), 
but  the  parallelism  favors  the  translation  here  given.  We  may 
also  reverse  the  order  of  subject  and  predicate,  and  render :  He 


X.  3-5  201 

(or,  a  son)  who  acts  wisely  gathers  in  summer,  he  (or,  a  son) 
who  acts  shamefully  sleeps  in  harvest.  The  meaning  is  the  same 
in  the  two  translations ;  but  the  first  (characterizing  the  act  as 
wise  or  unwise)  is  more  natural  than  the  second  (characterizing 
the  man  as  acting  so  or  so) .  The  statement  is  meant  to  be  uni- 
versal ;  the  word  son  contemplates  the  man  as  a  member  of  a 
family,  but  it  is  also  assumed  that  he  is  an  independent  worker. 
The  agricultural  life,  to  which  the  proverb  relates,  existed  among 
the  Jews  in  Palestine  from  their  first  occupation  of  the  land  down 
to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans.  On  summer  and 
harvest  see  note  on  6^.  —  Grk.  has  : 

A  son  who  is  instructed  will  be  wise, 

And  shall  use  the  fool  as  servant. 

A  thoughtful  son  is  saved  from  heat, 

But  a  lawless  son  is  blighted  (or,  carried  away)  by  the  wind  in  harvest. 

The  first  couplet  appears  in  some  MSS.  at  9^- ;  the  second  has  a 
general  resemblance  to  the  Heb.  of  our  verse,  with  great  verbal 
variation. 

X.  1.  The  title  is  lacking  in  (§5,  and  was  perhaps  not  inserted  in  |§  till 
after  (5  was  made.  —  To  3n  SCCT  attach  suff.,  which  may  have  fallen  out 
through  foil.  1;  but  the  simple  form  accords  with  the  curtness  of  aphoristic 
expression,  and  may  be  retained  notwithstanding  the  icn.  —  2.  |^  jm  (and 
so  IL) ;  (5  dc6/xoi;s  (and  so  S2C),  less  appropriate,  since  pitn  nnss  forms  a  con- 
trast to  n|-ns.  —  For  npis  in  the  sense  oi  justice,  aid,  succor  to  Israel  (by 
Yahweh)  see  Ju.  5^1  Mic.  6^,  and  of.  the  similar  sense  in  Sabean,  in  Hal. 
188,  8  (p-is).  Gr.  adds  map  dv3,  as  in  11*.  —  3.  pj  pix;  (gABaJ.  SiKaLav; 
between  the  two  readings  there  is  little  to  choose.  —  The  primary  sense  of  the 
stem  nin  seems  to  be  go,  tnove,  whence  blo'o  (of  the  wind),  and  Aram,  be  (perh. 
from  breathe,  perh.  irova  fall  out,  happen),  and  specifically  ^0  do2U}!,fall  (^Axah.); 
the  noun  =:  air  (Arab.),  desire,  connected  with  breathing  (Arab.,  Heb.),  mis- 
fortune, destruction,  =  that  -which,  falls  on  one  (Heb.).  In  Job  37''  mn  appears 
to  mesin  fall,  but  Siegf  emends  to  r\^_i  xvater  (see  Konig,  p.  598).  Cf.  Fleischer, 
in  De.2,  p.  94,  Budde  on  Job  6^  yf,  BDB.  Fleischer  (in  De.,  Job  376)  holds 
that  the  primitive  sense  of  the  stem  is  gape,  yawn.  ^K  jn  possession  ;  It  insi- 
dias.  (3  fwTjf,  =:  pin,  does  not  give  so  good  an  antithesis  as  |^.  —  J§  apa'i, 
for  which  a  number  of  MSS.  and  printed  edd.  (see  De'  Rossi)  have  DiJ3 
treacherous,  apparently  a  gloss  which  expelled  the  text-word.  The  variation 
of  number  (sing.  'S,  plu. '-»)  is  for  rhythmical  effect. — 4.  (§  (foil,  by  SiST) 
Trec/a  ('l:\v->)  civdpa  TaTreivoT,  perh.  taking  ftj  as  =  poverty  makes  the  hand  slack 
(cf.  Schleusn.),  or  reading  some  form  of  njy  or  ■^^.  •  Between  rN-<  and  d'nt 


202  PROVERBS 

there  is  not  much  choice;  the  parallelism  (-i"'>'p)  rather  favors  the  former. 
The  Hif.  'n  may  be  simple  causative  {makes  rich)  or  causative-reflexive  {^be- 
comes rich).  On  the  couplet  added  in  ILS^  see  Baumg.'s  note.  —  5.  The  text 
of  (5  seems  to  be  based  on  that  of  ^J.  Its  first  cl.  vlbs  Treiraidevfj-^vos  (rocpbs 
eVrai  =  '"'DZ'D  iDia  p,  the  'D  'a  being  perh.  paraphrase  of  I'^pa  "bjs";  of  this  the 
third  cl.  dL£<rw07]  dwb  Kav/xaros  v.  votj/xo^v  is  a  doublet,  k.  =  y^P  (what  Heb. 
word  5.  represents  is  doubtful) ;  the  second  cl.  rip  5^  dippovL  SiaK6v(ji  xp^'JcfTot 
is  scribal  appendage  as  antithesis  to  the  first;  the  fourth  cl.  dvei^6<p6opos  (read 
dv€fio(f)6p7]Tos)  S^  yiverai.  eu  dfirfTCt)  vibs  Trapdvotxos  =  tt'OD  p  isp2  ']ll  (of.  Isa. 
19^).  The  whole  is  a  paraphrase  which  may  have  taken  the  place  of  an 
original  Grk.  text.  '"*■ 

6,  7.  The  recompense  of  virtue  and  vice. 

6.    Blessings  are  on  the  head  of  the  righteous  ^ 


7.    The  memory  of  the  righteous  will  be  blessed,    • 
But  the  name  of  the  wicked  will  rot. 

6.  Blessings  may  be  the  good  wishes  or  encomiums  of  men  (as 
in  v."),  or  the  good  things  bestowed  by  God  (so  Grk.);  the  latter 
interpretation  is  perhaps  favored  by  the  use  of  the  expression  on 
the  head  (of  Joseph)  in  Gen.  49-'^  Dt.  33^^ ;  cf.  De.'s  notes  here  and 
on  Gen.  49^*^.  —  The  second  cl.  reads  in  the  Heb. :  but  the  mouth 
of  the  wicked  covets  violence  or  violence  covers  the  mouth  of  the 
wicked  (identical  with  second  clause  of  v.").  Neither  of  these 
renderings  gives  any  natural  connection  with  the  first  clause.  Vio- 
lence is  high-handed,  oppressive  conduct  —  it  is  said  (i/^  73®  and 
perhaps  Mai.-  2^*^)  to  cover  the  wicked  man  as  a  garment,  he  is 
enwrapped  in  it  (13^  delights  in  it) ;  so  perhaps  here,  it  covers  his 
mouth,  that  is,  controls  his  speech,  and  therefore,  his  life.  But 
this  affords  no  contrast  to  the  first  cl.,  from  which  we  should  rather 
expect  some  such  line  as  evil  pursues  the  wicked.  Grk.  (repre- 
senting a  slightly  different  Heb.  text  from  ours) :  untimely  grief 
shall  cover,  etc.,  which  gives  a  contrast.  Bickell  emends  :  but  the 
fruit  of  the  wicked  is  sorrow  and  wrath  (cf.  13^).  Graetz  sug- 
gests face  instead  of  mouth.     We  should  perhaps  read  : 

The  blessing  of  Yahweh  is  on  the  head  of  the  righteous, 
But  sorrow  shall  cover  the  face  of  the  wicked. 

*  Heb. :  But  violence  covers  the  mouth  of  the  wicked. 


X.  6-8  203 

The  text  appears  to  have  been  assimilated  to  that  of  v.^"',  on  which 
see  note  ;  or,  possibly  the  original  line  has  been  lost,  and  v.'"'  sub- 
stituted for  it.  —  7.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  antithesis  is  exact 
and  complete.  The  common  human  desire  to  leave  a  good  name 
behind  shall  be  fulfilled,  says  the  writer,  for  the  good,  but  not  for 
the  bad  :  men  will  bless  the  one,  or  will  regard  him  as  an  example  of 
blessedness  or  prosperity  ;  the  other  they  will  forget.*  The  rule, 
in  fact,  holds  in  general,  though  it  is  not  without  numerous  excep- 
tions.    The  opposite  point  of  view  is  expressed  \njul.  Caes.,  3,  2  : 

The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them; 
The  good  is  oft  mterred  with  their  bones. 

Instead  of  will  rot  a  slight  change  of  text  gives  the  reading  :  will 
he  cursed  (Frank.),  which  offers  an  exact  contrast  to  blessed,  and 
should  perhaps  be  adopted;  this  verb  occurs  in  ii-*^  24'^ 

8.   Obedience  to  law  characteristic  of  the  wise. 

A  wise  man  heeds  commands, 
But  a  foolish  talker  will  fall. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.  one  who  is  luise  of  mind  (Heb.  heart), 
and  one  who  is  foolish  of  lips ;  the  prating  fool  of  RV.  is  inexact 
—  it  is  not  a  fool  who  talks,  but  a  man  who  talks  folly.  —  The 
meaning  of  the  first  cl.  is  plain  —  the  zvise  man  (he  who  is  sound 
in  thought,  practically  judicious)  abides  by  the  prescriptions  of 
competent  authority.  This  characterization  of  the  wise  man  is 
especially  natural  to  the  Jew  of  this  period  (4th  or  3d  century  B.C.), 
for  whom  all  right  was  embodied  in  his  Tora,  but  is  also  of  universal 
propriety,  since  all  right  conduct  is  conformity  to  law  of  some 
sort ;  here  the  law  is  external,  divine  or  human.  —  The  second  cl., 
also,  is  plain  in  itself  (foolish  talking  brings  misfortune),  but  stands 
in  no  obvious  relation  to  the  first  cl.,  and  seems  not  to  be  here  in 
place.  We  may,  indeed,  suppose  an  elaborate  implicit  antithesis  : 
language  may  be  understood  as  the  expression  of  thought  and  mind 
(so  that  foolish  talker  ^^  foolish  man),  and  falling  3i%  the  result  of 
7iot  heeding  cotnmands,  and  the  proverb,  fully  expressed,  would 
then  read  :  the  wise  man  abides  by  law,  talks  sensibly,  and  pros- 

*  So  in  Gen.  128 :  in  thee  shall  all  nations  bless  themselves ,  that  is,  take  thee  as 
the  standard  of  success ;  the  explanation  of  the  expression  is  given  in  Gen.  4820. 


204  PROVERBS 

pers ;  the  fool  rejects  law,  talks  foolishly,  and  fails.  But  this 
roundabout  mode  of  expression  is  contrary  to  the  method  of  the 
Book,  in  which  the  antithesis  of  the  clauses  is  obviously  meant  to 
be  clearly  set  forth.  The  second  cl.  (which  occurs  again  in  v.^") 
was  probably  here  inserted  by  error  of  scribe ;  it  belongs  properly 
in  an  aphorism  in  which  the  other  clause  declares  the  stability  of 
the  righteous.     The  reference  is  to  earthly  failure. 

9.  Safety  in  integrity. 

He  who  walks  uprightly  walks  surely, 

But  he  whose  ways  are  crooked  shall  <  suffer.' 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  shall  be  known, 
that  is,  apparently,  known  as  (  =  discovered  to  be)  a  wrong-doer, 
and  punished.  That  a  bad  man's  wickedness  will  be  found  out  is 
probable ;  but  the  parallelism  calls  for  the  mention  of  punishment, 
and  a  natural  expression  is  given  in  1 1^^,  where  suffer  loss  or  evil 
(RV.  smart  for  it)  stands  in  contrast  with  sure ;  this  rendering 
requires  only  a  slight  change  in  one  Heb.  letter.  We  may  also 
translate  :  but  it  goes  ill  with  him  whose  ways,  etc.  The  transla- 
tions will  be  taught  (that  is,  by  his  experience)  (Ew.),  and  will  be 
seen  through  (De.)  are  improbable.  Uprightly  is  lit.  in  upright- 
ness, perfecttiess,  or  innocence  ;  on  crooked  %qq.  note  on  7}^.  Surely 
=  not  confidently,  but  safely.  The  proverb  seems  not  to  contem- 
plate divine  intervention,  but  to  refer  to  a  common  law  of  society  : 
the  man  of  upright  life  has  nothing  to  fear  from  his  neighbors 
or  from  the  law  —  a  dishonest  man  will  be  punished  —  nearly 
equivalent  to  honesty  is  the  best  policy. 

10.  Mischief-makers  and  friendly  critics. 

He  who  winks  the  eye  makes  trouble, 
<  But  he  who  reproves  makes  peace.' 

Antithetic,  probably  ternary.  On  winking  the  eye  (or,  with  the 
eye)  as  an  expression  for  stirring  up  strife  by  malicious  hints  see 
note  on  6^-"".  The  second  cl.  reads  in  the  Heb.  :  and  a  foolish 
talker  shall  fall,  apparently  repeated  from  v.^  (where,  however,  it 
is  not  in  place),  here  offering  no  antithesis  —  we  expect  the  men- 
tion of  something  which  causes  the  opposite  of  trouble.     Grk.  has 


X.  8-1 1  205 

He  who  winks  deceitfully  with  his  eyes  causes  sorrow  to  men,  but 
he  who  reproves  openly  makes  peace.  This  furnishes  the  desired 
contrast,  but  in  expanded  form ;  the  deceitfully  and  to  men  are 
explanatory  additions,  and  perhaps  also  the  openly  (Bickell), 
though  we  might  read  (see  27^)  open  reproof  makes  peace,  or  he 
who  reproves  evil,  etc.  (cf.  24^).  In  any  case  the  suggestion  is 
that  frank  reproof  of  wrongdoing  will  pave  the  way  to  repentance 
and  amity.  For  the  word  trouble  see  15^^  Job  9-^,  and  cf.  the  simi- 
lar term  in  10-^  15^  "Z'  127'^  (sometimes  =  labor,  5^"  i4''^). 

11.  Righteous  and  wicked  speech. 

The  mouth  of  the  righteous  is  a  fountain  of  life, 
But  violence  envelops  the  mouth  of  the  vi'icked. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  second  cl.  (identical  with  second  cl. 
of  v.^,  on  which  see  note)  is  not  to  be  rendered  the  mouth  of 
the  wicked  conceals  violence ;  *  violence  is  represented  as  a  gar- 
ment which  clothes  the  bad  man's  mouth,  that  is,  it  characterizes 
and  is  produced  by  his  utterance  —  the  idea  of  concealment  is 
not  in  place,  it  is  rather  expression  that  is  meant ;  in  Prov.  mouth 
is  generally  equivalent  to  utterance,  and  the  idea  that  the  wicked 
man  uses  language  to  conceal  his  thought  (that  is,  is  hypocritical), 
though  here  possible,  does  not  accord  with  the  first  line.  The 
contrast  is  between  the  speech  of  the  righteous  and  that  of  the 
wicked  —  the  former  is  a  source  of  wisdom,  peace,  good  earthly 
life,  the  latter  brings  hurt,  misfortune  ;  it  is  the  effect  on  others 
that  is  referred  to.  The  expression  fountain  of  life  =  life-giving 
water,  or,  generally,  sou7'ce  of  life,  is  used  of  God  in  Jer.  2^^  1 7^^ 
^  2^9(10)  (De.),  in  accordance  with  the  national  theistic  point  of 
view  of  the  prophets  and  psalmists ;  in  Prov.  it  is  used  of  wise, 
upright  speech  (so  here),  of  the  law  of  the  wise  (13"),  of  the 
fear  of  God  (14^^,  of  wisdom  or  understanding  (16^^),  the  refer- 
ence in  all  cases  being  to  prosperous  and  happy  earthly  life  as  the 
result  of  obedience  to  the  highest  wisdom,  which  is  ultimately  obe- 
dience to  the  law  of  God  ;  see  3-  4^^  8^,  etc.  The  sage  thus  con- 
ceives of  human  life  as  a  system  ordered  by  law,  this  law  residing 
in  the  mind  of  man,  but  being  also  the  will  of  God,  who  thus 

*  De.,  Str.,  Kamp.  al. 


206  PROVERBS 

manifests  himself  in  human  thought.  The  fountam  of  life  is  a 
natural  figure,  especially  in  Palestine,  where  springs  played  so 
important  a  part  in  agriculture  and  life  generally ;  there  seems  to 
be  no  reason  to  suppose  a  reference  to  a  primitive  "  spring  of  life  " 
corresponding  to  the  "  tree  of  life  "  of  Gen.  2  (see  note  on  3^*). 
—  The  expression  living  water  (Jer.  2^  «/.),  =  running  water 
(contrasted  with  standing  water),  is  used  in  a  different  sense. 

12.  Hatred  and  love. 

Hatred  stirs  up  strifes, 

But  love  hides  all  transgressions. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf.  1 7".  Hatred  dwells  on  and  exagger- 
ates evil  or  unwise  words  and  acts,  and  so  causes  misunderstand- 
ings and  quarrels.  Love  hides  trangressions,  not  by  condoning 
wrong,  but  by  making  allowance  and  forgiving ;  it  leads  a  man  to 
cover  up  not  his  own  faults  (this  is  condemned  in  28^^)  but  those 
of  others  (so  i  Cor.  13").  This  clause  is  quoted  in  i  Pet.  4^  in 
the  form  love  hides  a  multitude  of  sins  (that  is,  sins  of  others), 
free  citation,  possibly  from  memory,  but  more  probably  (since  it 
occurs  in  Jas.)  from  some  current  Aramaic  or  Greek  version 
(which  perhaps  represented  a  Heb.  text  slightly  different  from 
ours).  A  different  appHcation  is  given  to  the  latter  part  of  the 
expression  in  Jas.  5-",  in  which  it  is  said  that  he  who  turns  a  sinner 
from  his  evil  ways  covers  a  multitude  of  sins,  conceals  them,  that 
is,  from  the  eyes  of  God,  who  no  longer  takes  note  of  them  — 
a  use  of  cover  derived  from  OT.,  in  which  a  verb  *  having  this 
meaning  is  employed  in  the  sense  atone  for  (Ex.  29^®,  etc.),  for- 
give {if/  78'^*),  appease  (Pr.  16^^).  The  idea  in  these  passages  is 
the  same  as  in  this  verse  —  sin  is  hidden,  ignored. 

6.  ?^  nb-i3;  (5  (foil,  by  3L)  eiiXoyla  Kvpiov,  in  which  the  k.  is  perh.  original 
(Lag.),  perh.  interpretation.  —  It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  any  difference 
of  sense  between  ^'ni*^  and  ii'Nia ;  the  former  does  occur  in  connection  with 
blessing  (Gen.  49^6  Dt.  33^^),  and  the  latter,  after  verbs  of  inflicting,  in  con- 
nection with  punishment  (i  K.  2^''  Obad.i^  Joel  4*'');  but  elsewhere  the  two 
are  used  in  the  same  sense  (cf.  Ez.  16I-  with  Pr.  4^).  —  For  |^  ^3  Graetz,  with 
probability,  suggests  'Jij.     |§  D::n;    (§  ir^vdos  diopov  (Lag.  ddpdov,  but  cf.  WS. 

*  Kapar,  kipper,  whence  koper,  ransom,  kapporct,  covering  (of  the  ark),  RV. 
mercy-seat. 


X.   11-13  207 

14^-^),  whence  we  may  read  D^'^. — 7.  |^  3pn^;  (§  a^evvvrai,  —  iy"\\  as  in  13^ 
20-f'  24''^;  S9r  have  1>'T;  Krochmal  (cited  by  Gr.)  3pv  shall  be  cursed  (cf.  ii^''), 
a  good  reading  if  the  nj-i::  be  understood  of  men  (Frank,  apr).  —  8.  |^  '^in; 
@Boj.  ao-TCYos  babbling  ((@'''°  S"  iSoraros  ziiisleady') ;  the  ffKoXid^uv  of  (5  is 
gloss  on  this  expression,  or  (Jag.)  on  the  diaarp^cpiov  (|^  iJ'P^'d)  of  v^.  |^  taay ; 
®  viro(jK€\i<r9'fj(T€Ta.i  stumble,  fall  (as  Arab,  a^'^) ;  Frank.  ^^'7',  which,  how- 
ever, does  not  occur  elsewhere  without  a  defining  term.  —  9.  ?^  j;iv  (foil,  by 
all  Vrss.)  gives  no  satisfactory  sense;  read  'i\  (so  Graetz)  or  -h  yn'';  cf.  ii^^ 
i3'-o  ^  io63-.  On  Sa;  see  Pink.  —  10.  "^  (=  S'')  is  here  out  of  place,  (g  6 
5e  iX^yx'^"  fxera  wapprjcrlas  (IprjvoTroLeT,  perh.  =  aStr^  a'>nstV3  n^b;  Bi.  nav  n;'D 
0*?!^;  /oier.  Trap,  is  rendered  by  Lag.  nvDCp  (so  in  Lev.  26^^),  by  Gr.  D'^JD  Sn. 
— 11.  For  l^"*  '3  (5  has  iv  xe'/>^,  perh.  scribal  error  for  x^'^^'  (Grabe,  Lag.)i 
— 12.  On  1^  ann  see  note  on  6"  —  ^y  after  noj  occurs  i/'  44'-^'  106^^  Job  2i26, 
the  primary  sense  of  the  vb.  being  perh.  lay,  heap.  —  (§  toi>s  /xt;  (\)CKovei.KovvTo.%, 
=  a;7ti'a  mS,  the  neg.  being  inserted  to  obtain  a  contrast  with  ".  <S  xnpna 
shame  (for  1^  n^nx)  is  scribal  error,  or  emendation  to  avoid  saying  that  love 
covers  sinners  (Pink.). 

13,  14.   The  character  and  use  of  speech. 

13.  In  the  speech  of  the  discerning  wisdom  is  found, 
But  for  the  fool's  back  there  is  a  rod. 

14.  Wise  men  conceal  what  they  know. 

But  the  talk  of  a  fool  is  impending  destruction. 

13.  Ternary.  The  two  clauses,  taken  separately,  give  each  a 
good  sense,  but  there  is  no  close  connection  between  them.  The 
first  has  congeners  in  lo"^-^^  14'^  15^,  where  there  is  well  marked 
antithesis.  The  second  is  found  almost  word  for  word  in  26^,  in 
which  the  meaning  is  clear  —  the  fool,  like  a  beast,  must  be  driven 
or  guided  by  force  (cf.  \\i  32^).  Such  must  be  its  sense  here, 
and  we  should  then  expect  in  the  first  cl.  the  statement  that  the 
wise  man  is  otherwise  directed  ;  possibly  this  is  what  is  meant  by 
saying  that  wisdom  is  in  his  speech  (lit.  lips^  —  he  is  guided  by 
reason.  But  this  sense  is  not  obvious,  and  in  v.^^  the  expression 
has  another  meaning,  namely,  that  the  lips  of  the  good  man  utter 
wisdom,  in  contrast  with  which  we  should  here  expect  to  read 
that  the  fool  utters  folly  (cf.  v.").  This  sense  may  be  got  by  a 
couple  of  changes  in  the  Ileb.  text :  but  folly  is  in  the  mouth  of 
the  fool  (lit.  of  him  tuho  is  devoid  of  tindersta7idi7tg,  lacking  in 
sense).  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  we  should  not  rather 
retain  the  text,  and  regard  the  second  cl.  as  here  out  of  place. 


208  PROVERBS 

As  the  verse  stands,  the  meaning  must  be  taken  to  be  :  An  intelli- 
gent man's  speech  is  wise,  his  thought  is  good,  and  he  knows  how 
to  direct  his  life  —  a  fool  has  no  guiding  principle  in  himself,  and 
must  be  driven  like  a  beast,  or  coerced  like  a  child.  From  Grk. 
we  get  no  help  :  he  who  brings  out  wisdom  from  his  lips  smites 
the  fool  with  a  rod.  — 14.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  antithesis  is 
obvious :  wise  men,  knowing  the  power  of  words,  are  cautious  in 
speech,  and  by  sometimes  keeping  back  what  they  know,  avert 
misfortune,  while  fools,  talking  thoughtlessly,  are  constantly  in 
danger  of  bringing  destruction  on  people's  heads,  as  by  talebear- 
ing, revealing  secrets,  and  the  like.  Reticence  is  often  praised 
in  Prov. ;  see  v.^^  ii^'^  12-^  al.  If  the  rendering  wise  men  lay  up 
knowledge  (De.,  RV.)  be  adopted,  the  antithesis  will  be  destroyed, 
and  the  two  clauses  cannot  be  regarded  as  belonging  together. 
Cf.  BS.  9^«  20". 

15,  16.  Wealth  —  its  social  value,  and  its  proper  use. 

15.  The  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city, 

And  the  poverty  of  the  poor  is  their  destruction. 

16.  The  wage  of  the  righteous  leads  to  life, 
The  revenue  of  the  wicked  to  <  destruction.' 

15.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Strong  city  =  protection  against  all 
dangers  and  ills.  The  second  cl.  is  lit.  :  aiid  the  destruction  of  the 
poor  is  their  poverty.  Cf.  v.^^  BS.  40^''.  The  Grk.  omits  the  pos- 
sessive pronouns.  There  is  probably  no  ethical  thought  in  the 
proverb  —  the  sense  is  that  wealth  smooths  one's  path  in  life, 
bringing  supply  of  bodily  needs,  guarding  against  the  attacks  of 
the  powerful,  and  giving  social  consideration  (14^  18^^  1 9"*  22^  31^^), 
—  while  the  poor  man  is  exposed  to  bodily  and  social  privations 
(19*  Eccl.  9^^).  —  It  seems  to  be  simply  a  recognition  of  the  value 
of  money,  such  as  is  found  in  all  civilized  lands.  Possibly,  how- 
ever, the  sage  has  also  in  mind  the  moral  dangers  of  poverty,  as 
in  30^  —  A  somewhat  different  sense  is  given  to  the  first  cl.  in 
18",  on  which  see  note.  The  opposite  side  of  the  picture  —  the 
danger  of  wealth  —  is  brought  out  in  11*  13^  23^  28^"  BS.  30"  31^-^, 
and  it  is  declared  in  19^-  28"  that  poverty  is  preferable  to  vice. — 
16.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.  :  the  wage,  etc.  is  (=  leads)  to  life, 
the  revenue,  etc.  is  to,  etc.     Wage  (wages  of  labor)  and  revenue 


X.  13-17  209 

(what  accrues  to  one)  are  synonyms  —  it  is  not  meant  to  contrast 
the  wealth  of  the  righteous  as  gained  by  honest  toil  with  that  of 
the  wicked  as  acquired  without  work  (De.,  Str.)  ;  the  former  term 
is  used  also  of  the  wicked  (ii'*)  and  the  latter  of  wisdom  (3"). 
The  contrast  is  between  the  tendencies  and  results  of  riches  in 
different  men.  For  the  good  man,  who  acquires  and  uses  it  prop- 
erly, it  leads  to  long  life  and  earthly  happiness  (for  this  sense  see 
notes  on  3^-  ^")  —  he  does  nothing  to  endanger  his  position.  For 
the  bad  man  it  leads  —  we  expect  the  antithesis  to  death  (for  which 
see  XT'*) — instead  of  this  the  Heb.  has  to  sin.  If  the  text  be 
correct,  we  must  suppose  that  the  sin  involves  punishment,  ulti- 
mately death  —  the  bad  man  comes  into  conflict  with  the  laws  of 
society,  or  incurs  the  anger  and  vengeance  of  God.  But  the  word 
sin  is  here  difficult.  The  point  of  the  verse  is  not  that  wealth  is 
an  occasion  of  sin  to  the  wicked  man,  but  that,  as  the  properly 
acquired  and  used  wealth  of  the  righteous  secures  hfe  for  him,  so 
the  improperly  acquired  and  used  wealth  of  the  wicked  secures 
death  or  calamity  for  him.  The  word  sin,  though  supported  by 
all  the  Vrss.,  appears  to  be  a  miswriting.*  An  easy  change  of  text 
gives  the  appropriate  term  destruction  (as  in  v.^*-  ^^) .  The  mean- 
ing of  the  proverb  is  plain  —  even  wealth,  ordinarily  regarded  as 
a  blessing,  becomes  a  curse  in  the  hands  of  a  bad  man.  The 
point  of  view  is  that  of  chs.  1-9  :  rightdoing  is  attended  by 
earthly  prosperity,  wrongdoing  by  adversity. 

17.  Docility  and  indocility. 

He  is  in  the  way  of  life  who  heeds  instruction, 

But  he  who  neglects  admonition  goes  (fatally)  astray. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  first  cl.,  lit.  the  way  to  life  is  he  tvho, 
etc.,  might  be  rendered  :  he  is  a  wayfarer  to  life  who,  etc.,  or  //  is 
the  way  to  life  when  one,  etc. ;  the  sense  remains  the  same  :  he 
who  follows  right  instruction  will  be  led  to  a  long  and  happy 
earthly  Hfe  (see  preceding  verse),  since  he  will  be  taught  to  avoid 
folly  and  so  will  escape  danger.     The  second  cl.  states  the  reverse 

*  The  sense  punishment,  which  is  given  by  some  to  the  Heb.  word  in  Isa.  5I8 
I  K.  1334  Nu.  32^3  Dan.  92*^  is  doubtful,  and  in  any  case  can  hardly  be  assigned  to 
it  here. 


210  PROVERBS 

side  :  rejection  of  instruction  causes  one  to  miss  the  way  of  life 
and  happiness,  and  to  wander  into  the  paths  of  misfortune  and 
death.  The  second  verb  is  in  form  causative  in  the  Heb.,  and 
we  may  translate  :  he  who  heeds  instruction  is  a  way  to  life  (for 
others),  but  he  who  neglects  admonition  leads  (others)  astray  (cf, 
Wildeboer)  ;  but  this  seems  less  natural  than  the  sense  given 
above  (cf.  the  similar  thought  in  15^").  The  proverb  inculcates 
a  teachable  disposition  —  one  mark  of  a  fool  is  unwillingness  to 
take  advice.  The  instruction  must  be  understood  to  be  of  the 
most  general  sort,  including  training  in  the  higher  divine  ethical 
law,  as  well  as  guidance  in  smaller  matters  of  everyday  life. 

18.  Talebearing.  The  form  is  doubtful.  The  Hebrew  most 
naturally  reads : 

He  who  hides  haired  is  a  liar  (lit.  lying  lips), 
And  he  who  utters  (or,  spreads)  slander  is  a  fool. 

The  verse  is  thus  a  synthetic  parallehsm,  and  AV.  makes  it 
(against  the  norm  of  the  context)  a  single  sentence  :  he  that 
hideth  hati'ed  with  lying  lips,  and  he  that  uttereth  a  slander,  is  a 
fool.  Luther  :  false  mouths  cover  hatred.  In  the  connection  the 
expression  he  who  hides  hatred  must  mean  the  man  who  conceals 
hostile  feehng  under  friendly  words  (26-'^),  and  is  thus  false  in 
speech.  There  might  thence  seem  to  result  the  antithesis  of 
secrecy  and  publicity  :  a  secret  hater  is  a  liar,  an  open  slanderer 
is  a  fool.  But  this  antithesis  does  not  really  exist  in  the  verse  — 
the  suggestion  rather  is  that  concealed  hatred  expresses  itself  in 
slander  (the  two  are  related  as  cause  and  effect),  which  is  itself 
an  underhand,  secret  procedure.  But,  from  the  usage  of  Prov. 
(10^-  jji3  12^®"''  17^  28''^)  the  verb  hide  (lit.  cover'),  when  unde- 
fined, would  naturally  mean  to  cover  up,  put  out  of  the  way,  in 
a  good  sense,  so  that  we  might  expect  the  clause  to  read  :  he  who 
covers  up  hatred  is  7-ighteous,  and  so  Grk.  7'ightcous  lips  conceal 
hati'ed.  — The  text  may  be  rendered:  Lying  lips  conceal  hatred, 
=  the  liar  conceals,  etc.  ;  but  this  general  proposition  is  not  true, 
and  does  not  offer  a  distinct  contrast  to  the  second  line.  In  26^^^ 
the  covering  of  hatred  is  defined  as  effected  by  deceit,  and  is  thus 
stamped  as  evil ;  without  such  a  defining  term  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  expression  can  be  taken  in  a  bad  sense.     We  must 


X.   17-19  211 

adopt  the  construction  of  AV.,  or  the  reading  of  Grk.,  or  else  we 
must  suppose  that  the  original  text  has  been  lost,  and  that  it 
referred  to  suppression  of  evil  reports  (as  in  v.^^  17^),  or  gave 
some  other  antithesis  to  the  second  clause. 

13.  See  note  on  this  v.  above.  A  possible  reading  for  ^  is  iDn  ^nstto  rhwy 
3^.  In  "■  Bi.  omits  nsdh  for  the  sake  of  the  rhythm,  (g^  omits  ^  by  error. 
In  b  pd^Sip  TvwT€L  dvdpa  aKapdcov  —  jS  "iDn  13)':'  aar.  S  =  (§;  ^TIL  =  P?. — 
14.  (3  eyyl^'ei  ffvvTpi^ri,  —  i^p  nnnro^.  — 15.  |§  37";,  (5  dae^Qv,  prob.  for  d(7de- 
vCiv  ((§-'^  Grabe,  Lag.).  — 16.  For  ||J  r\ii-2r\  we  should  read  nnna  or  nic. — 
17.  The  expression  ^-rh  mx,  only  here;  cf.  i^  i6'i  Pr.  2^^  5''  15-*;  the  prep, 
does  not  appear  in  the  Vrss.  We  may  read  inu''^  'n  'N  (cf.  IS^'*),  or  Partcp. 
ms,  or  'r  n  mN3 — 1§  T\yr>r^  can  be  taken  only  in  the  causative  sense,  as 
everywhere  else  in  OT.  (the  only  other  occurrence  of  the  Hif.  in  Pr.  is 
12'^^,  on  which  see  note).  Read  Qal  npn  (the  D  being  omitted  as  erroneous 
repetition  of  preceding  n),  or,  with  Hitz.,  point  nyna  as  Hith.  —  On  the  mis- 
translation of  (5  see  notes  of  Vog.,  Lag.,  Baumg.  — 18.  For  (5^  blKai.a. 
(for  1^  "^p")  Grabe  suggests  d.bi.Ka,  Lag.  (with  (gioc)  g^Xta,  which  may  be 
conformation  to  |^,  or  5.  may  be  free  rendering  to  gain  a  good  sense.  The 
text  of  |^»  appears  to  be  corrupt,  and  no  aid  is  got  from  the  Vrss.  See  note 
on  this  V.  above. 

19-21.  The  proper  use  of  speech. 

19.  In  a  multitude  of  words  transgression  will  not  be  lacking, 
And  he  who  controls  his  tongue  acts  wisely, 

20.  The  tongue  of  the  righteous  is  choice  silver, 
The  mind  of  the  wicked  is  little  worth. 

21.  The  lips  of  the  righteous  feed  many. 

But  the  foolish  die  through  lack  of  understanding. 

19.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Tongue  is  lit.  iips.  The  second  line 
may  also  be  rendered  :  the  zvise  man  controls,  etc.  The  caution 
is  against  much  talking  —  in  general,  says  the  sage,  it  is  impossible 
to  talk  much  and  be  wise.  The  reference  is  to  everyday  life ; 
transgression  is  overstepping  the  bounds  of  sobriety  and  good 
sense.  The  preceding  proverb  is  directed  against  gossip  as  inju- 
rious to  others ;  this  is  intended  to  guard  the  man's  own  charac- 
ter. It  may  be  popular  in  origin,  but  its  present  form  was  given 
it  by  cultivated  thinkers.  Cf.  BS.  20*.  Malan  cites  a  number  of 
close  parallels  to  this  proverb,  as  talkativeness  is  intemperance  in 
speech  (Theophrast.  Char.  8),  and  silence  is  a  hedge  about  wisdo7n 
{Pirke  Aboth,  3,  13),  and  cf.  Pirk.  Ab.,  i,  17,  which  is  probably 


212  PROVERBS 

based  on  this  verse. . —  20.  Antithetic,  quaternary-  (or,  ternary-) 
ternary.  The  antithesis  rests  on  the  identification  of  thought  or 
mi7id  (ht.  hearty  and  speech  {tongue') ;  it  is  assumed  (and  in 
general  it  is  true)  that  they  correspond  to  each  other.  A  good 
man's  speech,  issuing  from  his  good  mind,  makes  for  everything 
good  in  Hfe,  and  may  be  hkened  to  choice  silver,  silver  refined,  of 
highest  value,  and  everywhere  current.  The  7nind  of  the  wicked 
(their  inward  being,  attitude  toward  life,  thought  and  opinion), 
which  naturally  expresses  itself  in  words,  is  of  small  account  — 
a  contemptuous  expression,  doubtless  =  of  no  account,  of  no 
value  for  speaker  or  hearer.  The  point  of  view  is  moral  (as  in 
chs.  1-9)  ;  righteous  and  wicked  are  identified  with  wise  and  un- 
wise.— 21.  Antithetic,  quaternary-  (or,  ternary-)  ternary.  Speech 
and  thought  are  identified,  as  in  the  preceding  verse,  and  righteous 
(=  wise')  is  set  over  z.^2^\ViSX  foolish  (no  doubt  here  =  wicked); 
understanding  is  lit.  mind  {heart),  as  above.  The  antithesis  is 
between  the  nutritive  power  of  wise  thought  and  speech,  and  the 
incapacity  of  moral  folly  to  gain  life  —  earthly  life,  taken  in  the 
widest  sense,  with  physical  and  moral  content.  The  good  man 
ministers  to  all  the  wants  not  only  of  himself,  but  also  of  others 
{fuany  here  =  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact),  the  bad  man 
cannot  keep  even  himself  alive ;  the  death  referred  to  is  the 
premature  physical  death  which  is  the  penalty  of  failure  to  grasp 
and  follow  wisdom ;  see  note  on  v.".  The  thought  is  substan- 
tially that  of  3^^^^,  with  substitution  of  the  righteous  man  for  wis- 
dom. —  A  sharper  antithesis  would  be  gained  by  the  reading  majiy 
die  through  one  who  lacks  understanding,  but  the  change  oi  fools 
to  many  is  difficult;  the  rendering /^^/y  die  through  ojie,  etc., gives 
no  appropriate  thought.  —  In  the  first  line  the  translation  the  lips, 
etc.,  gain  many  (as  friends)  is  hardly  allowed  by  the  Hebrew. 
Cf.  BS.  6*^  9I8. 

22.   Happiness  of  work  blessed  by  God. 

The  blessing  of  Yahweh,  it  makes  rich, 
And  he  adds  no  sorrow  with  it. 

Continuous  or  extensive  (the  second  cl.  completing  the  first  by 
an  additional  detail),  ternary.  The  first  cl.  affirms  that  physical 
wealth  is  the  gift  of  God,  as  in  chs.  1-9  this  gift  is  ascribed  to 


X.    20-23  213 

Wisdom.  The  repetition  of  the  subject  by  the  insertion  of  it 
indicates  that  it  is  the  divine  blessing  and  not  anything  else  that 
gives  riches,  that  is,  the  divine  blessing  on  the  labor  of  men's 
hands.  In  the  second  cl.  the  term  sorrow  (sometimes  =  painful 
effort,  toil)  is  used,  as  in  15^^  {sorrow  of  heart  ox  mind),  Gen.  3'**, 
for  pain,  suffering ;  the  wealth  bestowed  by  Yahweh  is  distin- 
guished, as  being  free  from  sorrow,  from  ill-gotten  gain,  which 
brings  evil  with  it  (13"  15®  16^^  21"  28^).  There  is  an  implied  an- 
tithesis between  the  wealth  of  good  men  and  that  of  bad  men.  — 
Elsewhere  in  OT.,  when  a  preposition  follows  the  verb  add,  it  is  to 
(see  Jer.  45^),  which  would  here  be  out  of  place. —This  under- 
standing of  the  term  rendered  sorrow  is  that  of  the  Anc.  Vrss. 
Some  expositors,*  taking  it  in  the  sense  of  labor,  render  :  and  toil 
adds  not  to  it  (namely,  to  the  blessing),  that  is,  human  labor 
counts  for  nothing  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth  —  it  is  all  God's 
doing.  But  such  a  sharp  separation  between  man's  work  and 
God's  work  is  hardly  an  OT.  conception  (passages  like  Ex.  14''* 
\\)  1 1 8^  do  not  bear  on  this  question)  —  man  is  everywhere  repre- 
sented as  working  under  God's  direction;  so  ^  127^  (which  is 
cited  by  Ew.,  De.,  Str.,  as  supporting  their  translation)  affirms  not 
that  labor  in  itself  is  useless,  but  only  labor  unattended  by  the 
divine  blessing.     In  14-^  it  is  said  that  there  is  profit  in  all  labor. 

23.  How  wrongdoing  appears  to  fools  and  to  sages. 

It  is  as  sport  to  a  fool  to  do  wrong, 

But  it  is  » abomination  >  to  a  man  of  sense. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  essential  idea  in  the  term 
sport  is  not  ease  of  performance  (De.  al. :  child'' s play),  but  recre- 
ation, enjoyment — so  Gen.  17^''  Ex.  32^  Ju.  16-^  Zech.  8'  Job  40^" 
Pr.  8^"-^^  26^^31^  (the  sense  derisio7i  which  the  word  sometimes 
has,  as  in  2  C.  30^"  Job  30^  ip  2*  Pr.  i-®,  does  not  come  into  con- 
sideration here).  It  is  the  fool's  moral  superficiality  that  enables 
him  to  enjoy  sin  —  he  has  no  deep  sense  of  its  sinfulness;  it  is 
involved  that  such  conduct  is  easy  for  him  —  the  assumption  is 
that  wrongdoing  may  become  part  of  a  man's  nature,  his  normal 
and  joyous  activity.  —  The  term  here  rendered  wrong {^Y.  wicked- 

*  Saadia,  Rashi,  Luther,  Ew.,  Hitz.,  De.,  Str.,  Kamp.,  Frank. 


214  PROVERBS 

ness)  is  a  strong  one,  sometimes  expressing  general  enormity  of 
conduct  (21^''  24^  Job  31"  if/  26'°),  frequently  in  the  Prophetical 
and  legal  books  —  leivdness  (Jer.  13^'  Ez.  16^  23^^  Lev.  18'^), 
here  badness  in  the  most  general  sense.  —  The  Heb.  of  the  second 
line  is  lit.  :  and  wisdom  to  a  man  of  sense  (or,  u?iderstanding), 
which  may  conceivably  mean  that  a  man  of  sense  is  wise  (an 
identical  proposition),  or  that  wisdom  is  as  sport  (natural  enjoy- 
ment) to  a  man  of  sense  (but  wisdom  is  not  parallel  to  wrong- 
doing—  we  should  expect  the  name  of  the  act,  righ/doing) .  The 
natural  subject  of  the  second  line  is  wrongdoing,  d^nd  the  predicate 
should  be  antithetic  to  sport ;  from  the  similar  thought  in  16'-  we 
may  here  read  abomination.  Other  proposed  readings  are  :  a  dis- 
grace (which  does  not  furnish  a  distinct  contrast  to  spoj't),  and  as 
{object  of)  anger  (which  gives  the  desired  contrast,  but  the  inser- 
tion of  object  of  is  unwarranted,  and  the  as  inappropriate).  —  The 
terms /^(?/  and  man  of  sense  have  an  intellectual  and  moral  content. 

24,  25.   Fate  of  righteous  and  wicked. 

24.  What  the  wicked  fears  will  befall  him, 

But  the  desire  of  the  righteous  will  be  granted. 

25.  When  the  tempest  passes,  the  wicked  is  no  more, 
But  the  righteous  is  established  for  ever. 

24.  Antithetic,  ternary.  \a\.  the  fear  of  the  wicked.  The  con- 
trast is  between /^c«r  and  desire.  Instead  of  saying  that  the  desire 
of  the  wicked  will  not  be  granted,  the  author  gives  a  more  strik- 
ing antithesis  by  declaring  that  the  calamity  apprehended  by  the 
wicked  will  overtake  him.  It  is  the  ancient  opinion  of  retribution 
in  this  world  :  every  man  desires  happiness,  and  fears  and  appre- 
hends misfortune  —  the  good  man  shall  have  his  desire  (so  ch.  3 
and  passim),  the  fear  of  the  bad  man  shall  be  fulfilled.  This 
opinion  is  combated  in  Job  3'-^  :  Job,  a  good  man,  had  feared  evil, 
and  it  had  come  upon  him.  Our  sage  maintains  the  old  view 
(which  long  continued  to  be  the  prevailing  one),  doubtless  con- 
sidering it  to  be  necessary  for  the  restraint  of  evil  and  the  encour- 
agement of  good.  The  happiness  had  in  view  is  general  prosperity, 
without  special  reference  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  good  conscience 
or  the  enjoyment  of  communion  with  God,  and  with  no  reference 
to  the  retribution  of  the  future  life.  —  In  the  second  hue  the  Heb. 


X.  23-25  215 

has  :  the  desire,  etc.,  he  will  grant.  The  he  is  regarded  by  some 
critics  as  indefinite  (the  resulting  sense  being  ivill  be  granted^,  by 
others  as  referring  to  Yahweh.  Neither  of  these  interpretations  is 
favored  by  the  usage  of  OT.,  and  the  verb  must  be  written  as 
Passive.  —  25.  Antithetic,  ternary.  \lX..  at  the  passing  over  of  the 
tempest  (that  is,  of  misfortune)  the  wicked  is  not.  The  Syr.  has  : 
as  the  tempest  suddenly  passes,  so  the  hoicked  perishes  and  is  not 
found.  In  I-''  the  fear  (  =  source  of  fear)  of  the  wicked  is 
Ukened  to  a  whirlwind  or  tempest,  but  (even  if  the  Heb.  allow  it) 
the  comparison  is  not  appropriate  for  the  idea  of  impermanence, 
and  the  Syr.  is  obliged  to  insert  the  word  suddenly  to  get  the 
picture  of  swift  destruction.  The  same  construction  (without  the 
suddenly)  is  given  by  Targ.  Lat.  and  AV.  —  The  second  cl.  reads  : 
the  righteous  is  an  everlasting  foundation,  not  that  he  is  a  support 
for  others,  but  (as  the  contrast  requires)  that  he  himself  is  firmly 
established.  The  verse  sets  forth  the  permanence  and  imperma- 
nence of  the  two  classes  of  men :  the  wicked  is  swept  away  by 
the  tempest  of  divine  punishment  (i"'^),  the  righteous  is  secured 
against  overthrow  by  divine  protection  (cf.  12^  14").  The  thought 
is  adopted  in  Mt.  f'^-'' . 

19.  For  ][§  Siii;  S>  has  i<i-Qnn  (=  Ssj'')  and  for  ya's,  nSin  (=  ytyfl),  which 
gives  a  less  marked  antithesis  than  that  of  |§.  —  C.  B.  Mich,  (quoted  by  De.) 
compares  the  7roXuXo7^a  :roXXa  cr0dX/i,aTa  of  Stobaeus.  —  20.  (§^  ireirvpufi.ii>os 
(|§  iri3j),  perh.  for  ireireipa/iivos  (Lag.)  —  21.  |§  lyn'';  Frank.,  not  well,  gain 
as  friends.  —  The  subst.  ^Dn  occurs  in  OT.  only  here  and  28-^,  the  adj. 
ten  times  in  Pr.;  aS  is  omitted  by  <5,  probably  by  scribal  error.  (§  badly 
fTriorarat  v^p-qXa,  =  ncn  i>"i'>  (i^  ani  i>n-).  —  22.  After  Hif.  of  ']D-<  the  thing 
^0  which  something  is  added  is  introduced  generally  by  *?;•,  sometimes  by  '^  or 
Sn;  here  alone  the  vb.  is  followed  by  D,"  —  the  prep,  introduces  the  thing 
along  7vith  which  the  3i">'  is  not  added.  — (!|  follows  |^,  but  inserts  explanatory 
phrases :  eirl  KecpaXrjv  diKaiov  after  evXoyia  k.,  and  iv  Kapdia  after  Xijutt).  — 
23.  noDn  in  J^  is  to  be  taken  as  the  antithesis  to  not  nr;'.  For  'n  Graetz  sug- 
gests no'^j  disgrace,  as  contrast  to  pnz',  taken  as  =  spori,  a  partial  antithesis, 
but  hardly  convincing.  Read  nTfn.  Frank. :  r^i^n-^.  (§*  ev  y^Xuiri  &(ppujv 
wpdcra-ei  KCLKa,  =  'r  ry-y;  Sdd  pnra,  in  accordance  with  which  ^  might  be  ren- 
dered :  and  {with  enjoyment')  a  man  of  utiderstanding  {practices')  wisdom 
(omitting  ^),  which  has  no  advantage  over  |^.  In  i'  (@  takes  njpn  as  pred.; 
SE  follow  (5  in  a  (ST  N.-113;'  for  ncr),  and  p?  in  h.  iL  =  |^.  — 24.  p?  ]y_, 
hardly  with  subj.  ni.T'  understood  —  there  is  no  reason  why  "■  should  not  have 
been  written,  if  it  had  been  meant  (cf.  \p  21-^),  and  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in 
the  Vrss.,  except  in  Saad. ;   nor  is  there  in  OT.  a  clear  example  of  the  impers. 


2l6  PROVERBS 

or  indef.  construction  of  ]r\\  not  in  13^''  (on  which  see  note  below)  or  in 
Job  37W  (on  which  see  Budde's  note).  It  is  better,  with  &K1L,  to  take  it  as 
Pass.,  and  point  as  Hof.  (cf.  Job  28^^),  or  (Vog.)  as  Nif.  —  (S*  iv  d-n-wXela 
dcre^ris  Trepi(f>^peTa.i  (and  so  Sh),  where  dir.  perh.  =  nj::,  as  in  Jar.  49^^,  and 
wep.  =  {<2;  (cf.  Schleusn.,  Lag.).  After  "  (S'^  adds  bovXeiai  5^  dtppuiv  (ppovifiii) 
(perh.  from  i  i^S),  and  after  ^  Kapdia  8k  dcre/SoOs  eKXelxpei  (perh.  corruption  of  ^, 
and  cf.  15').  The  additions  do  not  belong  to  the  Heb.  original. — 25.  In 
layo  the  D  is  taken  as  compar.  by  S2uIL  Saad.;  if  this  were  the  sense  we 
should  expect  p  in  '',  and  so  ^'HL  render;  1L  has  t/uasi  before  fundamentum. 
(^''  StVaios  5^  iKK\iva%  o-wferai  d%  rbv  aiOiva  seems  to  be  free  rendering  of  |^, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  (Semler,  cited  and  approved  by  Lag.)  to  change  skk.  to 
a,K\ivr)$  tmswerving. 

26.  The  sluggard. 

As  vinegar  to  the  teeth  and  as  smoke  to  the  eyes, 
So  is  the  sluggard  to  those  who  send  him. 

A  simple  comparison,  quaternary-ternary,  based  on  some  pop- 
ular saying.  The  term  rendered  vinegar  is  used  for  any  acid 
drink  made  from  the  juice  of  the  grape  (Nu.  6^,  forbidden,  there- 
fore, to  Nazirites)  — in  some  forms  it  was  refreshing  (Ru.  2"),  in 
others  unpleasant  (i//  69^^'"')  ;  see  note  on  25-".  Hitz.,  Ew. 
render,  in  second  cL,  not  so  well :  to  him  who,  taking  the  Heb. 
word  as  plu.  of  majesty  (like  the  word  for  lord).  Grk.,  in  first  cl. 
as  unripe  (ysour)  grapes,  perhaps  scribal  error  for  vinegar,  and 
in  second  cl.  so  is  lawlessness  to  those  who  practise  it,  which 
agrees  well  with  the  ethical  tone  of  this  chapter,  not  so  well  with 
first  cl.  It  is  probably  a  misreading  of  our  Heb.  text.  Whether 
the  proverb  originally  stood  in  this  place  is  doubtful ;  it  resembles 
in  form  the  aphorisms  of  chs.  25.  26. 

27-29.  Contrasted  fortunes  of  righteous  and  wicked. 

27.  The  fear  of  Yahweh  prolongs  life, 

But  the  Hfe  of  the  wicked  will  be  shortened. 

28.  The  hope  of  the  righteous  will  have  a  glad  issue, 
But  the  expectation  of  the  wicked  will  perish. 

29.  Yahweh  is  a  stronghold  to  the  « man  of  integrity,' 
But  destruction  to  the  workers  of  iniquity. 

27.  Antithetic,  ternary.  So  3^^  and  many  other  passages  — 
long  life,  a  supreme  blessing  when  there  is  no  hope  beyond  the 
grave,  is  the  reward  of  piety.  The  sage  probably  thinks  both  of 
natural  causes  (sobriety,  etc.)  as  producing  this  result,  and  of  im- 


X.  26-30  217 

mediate  divine  action.  For  life  the  Heb.  has  days  in  first  cl., 
years  in  second  cl.  On  fear  of  Yahweh  see  note  on  i^. — 28.  An- 
tithetic, ternary.  Lit.  in  first  cl.  the  hope  of  the  righteous  is  glad- 
ness. The  thought  is  substantially  that  of  v.^*'  ^  —  the  aim  of  all 
men,  good  and  bad,  is  happiness  —  the  cause  is  human  law  and 
divine  control  —  the  good  will,  the  bad  will  not,  gain  what  they 
wish.  Cf.  Job  S'''  i/'  112^",  and  so  everywhere  in  OT.,  except  in 
the  speeches  of  Job  and  in  Ecclesiastes.  The  aphorism  looks  to 
the  close  of  hfe.  —  29.  Antithetic,  ternary.  According  to  the 
Masoretic  punctuation  the  first  line  reads  :  a  stronghold  to  perfec- 
tion is  the  luay  of  Yahweh  ;  the  parallelism  requires  that  we  read 
(with  Grk.)  perfect  (or,  righteous,  or,  pious)  instead  oi  perfection. 
But,  as  elsewhere  in  OT.,  it  is  always  Yahweh  himself,  and  not  his 
"  way,"  that  is  called  a  stronghold,  the  line  must  be  translated : 
Yahweh  is  a  stronghold  to  him  who  is  perfect  in  his  way,  that  is, 
to  a  man  of  integrity.  The  conception  is  the  old-Hebrew  one, 
that  the  retributions  of  God  in  this  life  are  determined  by  men's 
moral  character.  —  When  (as  in  RV.)  the  "way  of  Yahweh"  is 
taken  as  subject  of  the  sentence,  the  understanding  is  that  the 
divine  government  of  the  world  produces  the  results  named  —  an 
idea  appropriate  in  itself  (see  Ez.  18  \\i  ig^^-^^s-ss)-)  .  |J^^-  "strong- 
hold" is  a  strange  predicate  of  "way"  (or  "method  of  govern- 
ment"),  and  OT.  usage  is  against  such  a  construction.  —  In  the 
translation  here  adopted  Yahweh  is  the  subject  of  the  whole 
couplet,  the  antithesis  being  found  in  the  two  members  of  the 
predicate,  stronghold,  etc.,  and  destruction,  etc.  We  may  also 
take  the  second  cl.  as  a  separate  sentence,  and  render  :  but  de- 
struction will  be  to  the  workers  of  iniquity ;  the  antithesis  will  then 
be  simply  between  the  protection  given  to  the  righteous  and  the 
ruin  visited  on  the  wicked.  The  objection  to  this  rendering  is  that 
it  does  not  recognize  the  syntactical  parallelism  between  stronghold 
to  the  perfect  and  destruction  to  the  workers  of  iniquity  which  is 
suggested  by  the  Heb.  —  both  expressions  appear  to  be  predicates 
of  Yahweh.     The  second  cl.  recurs  in  21^^,  on  which  see  note. 

30.  Permanence  of  the  righteous. 

The  righteous  will  never  be  moved, 

But  the  wicked  will  not  abide  in  the  land. 


2l8  PROVERBS 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  general  idea  is  the  same  as  that  of 
v.^^,  but  there  is  special  reference  to  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 
The  sentiment  of  love  of  country  was  reinforced  among  the  Israel- 
ites (and  probably  to  some  extent  among  other  ancient  Semitic 
peoples)  by  a  definite  view  of  the  relation  between  the  deity,  the 
citizen,  and  the  land.  The  favor  of  the  deity  was  confined  to  his 
own  land  and  people,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  man  was  insepa- 
rably connected  with  his  share  in  the  soil.  In  ancient  times  this 
view  was  held  in  a  crude,  unethical  way  (i  Sam.  26^^)  ;  in  Israel 
it  was  gradually  purified  by  intellectual  and  moral  growth,  but 
never  wholly  given  up  —  it  was  always  in  the  land  of  Canaan  that 
the  final  blessing  was  to  come  to  the  people.  The  prophets  inter- 
preted exile  as  a  temporary  cessation  of  privilege,  a  preparation 
for  a  higher  destiny  (Jer.  27"^  Ez.  39-^-^  Isa.  53).  Thus  posses- 
sion of  the  soil,  dwelling  in  the  land,  came  to  be  the  synonym  of 
the  highest  blessing  {ij/  37^'^  cf.  Mt.  5'),  and  is  so  used  here. 
The  expression  retained  its  validity  in  the  Greek  period  in  spite 
of  the  dispersion  of  the  people  (cf.  Dan.  12  BS.  36'^  Enoch  85- 
90).  The  reference  in  the  first  cl.  (as  the  parallelism  shows)  is 
to  physical  permanence,  not  to  the  maintenance  of  moral  integrity. 
See  notes  on  i^  2-^-^1 

31,  32.  Speech  of  righteous  and  wicked:  The  expressions  are 
not  perfectly  clear ;   the  text  is  perhaps  in  disorder.      The  Heb. 

reads : 

31.  The  mouth  of  the  righteous  utters  wisdom, 

But  the  tongue  of  falsehood  shall  be  cut  off. 

32.  The  lips  of  the  righteous  know  what  is  acceptable, 
But  the  mouth  of  the  wicked  is  falsehood. 

31.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  causative  sense  uf/er  seems  to  be 
required  by  the  connection;  but  elsewhere  (i//  62^°'^^'  92"'^^')  this 
form  of  the  verb  means  sprout,  grow,  increase  (the  causative  form, 
make  grow,  occurs  in  Zech.  9'').  As  the  text  stands,  the  antithe- 
sis is  implicit.  Instead  of  saying  that  the  tongue  of  the  wicked 
Jitters  folly  or  falsehood  (as  in  v.^-),  the  verse,  looking  forward  to 
consequences,  declares  that  it  shall  be  cut  off ;  the  proverb  in  full 
form  would  be  :  the  righteous  speaks  wisdom,  obeys  God,  and 
lives  —  the  wicked  speaks  folly,  disobeys,  and  dies.  It  is  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  familiar  idea  of  precise  compensation  in  this  life ;  cf. 


X.  30-32  2!^ 

•A  36^^*'  37*  59''*^^'  144^  (the  reference  in  the  Psalms  is  generally 
to  national  enemies)  Pr.  4'*  lo"'^^  i2^*''^'-*  15^-^  Eccl.  lo'^-^",  etc. — 
32.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary-binary).  A  simple 
statement  of  the  difference  between  the  utterances  of  the  two 
classes  of  men.  Acceptable  is  that  which  gives  content,  pleasure, 
to  man  (Esth.  i*)  or  to  God  (Pr.  8^  11^  12-,  etc.,  Isa.  49*,  and,  in 
the  sacrificial  ritual,  Lev.  22^,  etc.).  In  the  latter  case  the  divine 
name  is  always  expressed  elsewhere  in  Prov.,  and  the  reference 
here  must  be  to  man.  Good  men,  the  proverb  says,  employ  the 
sincere  and  kindly  language  that  gives  men  pleasure.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  false  language  of  bad  men,  the  parallelism  sug- 
gests, stirs  up  strifes.  The  verb  know,  as  predicate  of  lips,  is 
somewhat  strange.  It  might  be  taken,  as  in  12'°,  in  the  sense 
regards,  pays  attention  to,  but  we  should  then  expect  the  righteous 
man  as  subject;  here  we  shall  better,  with  Grk.  and  Hitzig,  read 
Jitter.*  The  proverb  defines  men's  characters  by  the  nature  of 
their  speech.  —  In  the  four  clauses  of  the  two  verses  there  is  pos- 
sibly a  chiastic  arrangement,  the  fourth  cl.  answering  to  the  first  cl., 
and  the  second  cl.  to  the  third  cl,  so  that  the  simple  form  would  be  : 

The  mouth  of  the  righteous  utters  wisdom, 
But  the  mouth  of  the  wicked  falsehood. 
The  lips  of  the  righteous  utter  what  is  acceptable, 
But  the  tongue  of  falsehood  will  be  cut  off. 

26.  In  ^  (5  Trapavo/xia  may  =  n^i>'  (|^  ^V"^)  '■>  whether  xpw/i^wis  represents 
vnStr  or  some  other  word  is  uncertain.  —  28.  |§  nSnh  hope  ;  (5  ivxpovl^ei,  lasts 
long  (because  there  is  always  hope),  or,  less  probably,  is  deferred  (because 
only  a  hope),  or  perh.  represents  some  other  Heb.  word,  as  inxp.  —  29.  |§  ^-n; 
@  (pojSos,  as  in  v.-^;  S^  (with  note  oi  \onrol  waaOrus^  656s,  which  may  be 
conformation  to  |^,  or  may  be  original  (S.  —  |^  dh  must  be  pointed  an;  De. 
suggests  that  the  Masoretes  here  pointed  the  word  as  subst.  because  the  adj. 
is  not  found  elsewhere  with  prefix.  D^  occurs  nine  times  in  ethical  sense  (in 
poetical  books  only),  twice  of  physical  purity  (Cant.  5-  6^),  once  of  social 
habitude  (Gen.  25^^)  ;  it  is  an  ethical  term  of  the  later  literature  (Job,  Pss. 
Pr.).  —  31.  ^  3r  is  doubtful,  since  it  elsewhere  means  sprout,  grow,  and 
even  Hif.  is  hardly  satisfactory;  Hitz.'s  emendation  ivai  is  not  improbable, 
(gs  a-KO(XTa,^ii  may  =  2r  or  ']V  (Jag.  in  Lag.),  or  may  be  error  for  eiriffraTai 
(so  (§23.2.32  ^H^—  pj,-,,  (^as  in  v.3-1).  —  32.  |JJ  ti;"'.i;  we  should  probably  read 
IVa^  (cf.  152). 

*  Cf.  Job  338,  where  there  is  a  similar  difficulty,  and  the  second  cl.  should  per- 
haps read :    t>iy  lips  speak  what  is  sincere. 


220  PROVERBS 

XI.  The  contents  are  similar  to  those  of  ch.  lo,  but  there  are 
several  new  groups,  as  v.^°' ",  ^^""\  "^"^ 

1.  Honesty. 

A  false  balance  is  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 
But  a  just  weight  is  well-pleasing  to  him. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Honesty  in  commercial  dealing.  So  i6-^ 
2oio.23^  and  cf.  20^*;  for  the  earlier  legal  precept  see  Dt.  25^^  Ez. 
45^°  Lev.  19^*^.  On  abomijiation  see  note  on  3";  originally  ritual- 
istic, it  later  acquired  an  ethical  meaning.  The  moral  rule  is 
here  connected  with  the  divine  will. 

2.  Pride  and  humility. 

When  pride  comes,  then  comes  disgrace, 
But  with  the  humble  is  wisdom. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Pride  is  here  an  overweening  sense  of 
one's  deserts,  and  the  humble  man  is  one  who  does  not  overesti- 
mate himself;  the  latter  term  is  in  the  Heb.  a  different  one  from 
that  so  rendered  in  \\i  q^-'^'^^  and  elsewhere  (which  properly =//^/^i')  ; 
it  occurs  in  Mic.  6*  of  humility  before  God,  and  might  be  so  un- 
derstood here  *  ;  but  the  context  suggests  the  more  general  sense, 
referring  to  relations  between  man  and  man  :  as  the  haughty  man 
makes  enemies,  is  opposed  and  overthrown,  so  the  humble  man  is 
complaisant,  avoids  antagonisms  and  disgrace,  and  is  therefore 
wise.  Such  appears  to  be  the  antithesis  :  wisdoin  involves  the 
honor  or  peace  which  we  might  expect  to  be  put  over  against  the 
disgrace  of  the  first  cl.  Wisdom  here  =  good  sense  in  worldly 
relations,  though  it  may  also  involve  acquaintance  with  and  obe- 
dience to  the  law  of  God,  as  in  chs.  1-9.  The  term  pride'  occurs 
I  Sam.  if^  Ez.  f^  Jer.  49^^  (and  the  &dj.  in  Pss.).  With  this 
proverb  cf.  13^*^  i^^  i6^^-'^  18^-  22^  and  the  Eng.  "pride  will  have 
a  fall,"  and  for  other  parallels  see  Malan.  —  Instead  of  Ihe  humble 
the  Lat.  has  humility,  which  gives  a  directer  contrast  to  pride, 
though  it  is  probably  not  the  original  Heb.  reading. 

*  In  the  prophets  and  Psalms  all  things  which  come  into  rivalry  with  Yahweh 
are  regarded  as  objects  of  his  displeasure,  to  be  cast  down ;  this  theocratic  sense 
Qi  pride  is  probably  not  the  one  meant  by  the  proverb. 


XI,  1-4  221 

3-6.  The  saving  power  of  goodness  contrasted  with  the  de- 
structive power  of  evil.  The  point  of  view  is  that  of  outward 
compensation  in  the  present  life  according  to  moral  character. 
The  occurrence  of  these  slightly  varying  forms  of  the  same  idea 
suggests  the  teaching  of  schools,  in  which  sages  would  seek  to 
inculcate  a  fundamental  thought  by  repetition. 

3.  The  integrity  of  the  upright  will  guide  them, 
And  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  will  ruin  them. 

4.  Riches  profit  not  in  the  day  of  wrath, 
But  righteousness  rescues  from  death. 

5.  The  righteousness  of  the  perfect  smooths  his  path, 
But  the  wicked  will  fall  by  his  wickedness. 

6.  The  righteousness  of  the  upright  will  save  them, 
But  the  wicked  are  caught  in  their  own  desire. 

3.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Integrity  is  moral  perfectness,  freedom 
from  misdoing  —  it  is  the  quality  of  the  upright,  those  who  walk 
in  the  straight  line  of  duty  (rectitude)  ;  so  (Job  i^)  Job  is  called 
perfect  and  upright.  Opposed  to  this  is  the  wickedness  (devia- 
tion from  the  right  way,  wrongness)  of  the  wicked ;  this  last  term 
does  not  represent  the  Hebrew  word  usually  so  rendered ;  it 
sometimes  means  faithless,  those  who  act  secretly,  treacherously, 
not  keeping  word  with  man  or  God,  but,  from  the  connection, 
commonly  in  Prov.  =  the  morally  bad  in  general.  Guide  =  lead 
in  the  right  way,  procure  wellbeing ;  ruin  =  devastate,  reduce  to 
nothing.  The  proverb  contemplates  in  the  first  instance  the  op- 
eration of  natural,  social  law  (the  agencies  mentioned  are  human 
qualities,  integrity  and  wickedness) ,  but  doubtless  with  inclusion  of 
the  idea  of  divine  reward  and  punishment  (the  upright,  being  per- 
fect, are  guided  by  God  —  the  wicked,  being  bad,  are  destroyed 
by  God).  —  4.  Antithetic,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  The 
day  of  wrath  may  be  the  time  of  any  crushing  catastrophe, 
brought  on  by  man  or  God  ;  here,  from  the  parallelism,  the  refer- 
ence seems  to  be  to  the  crowning  catastrophe,  death,  that  is, 
death  premature,  sudden,  violent,  or  otherwise  unhappy  (in  sec- 
ond cl.  Targ.  has  evil  death)  ;  see  note  on  2^1  In  the  prophets 
the  day  of  wrath  has  a  national  signification  —  it  is  the  day  in 
which  Yahweh  visits  the  sin  of  Israel  or  of  other  nations  with 
famine,  pestilence,  exile,  or  overthrow  ;   in  the  Wisdom  books  it  is 


222  PROVERBS 

the  day  (usually  the  final  day)  of  retribution  for  the  individual 
sinner.  The  verse  contrasts  moral  and  non-moral  defences 
against  misfortune;  riches  seems  to  stand  for  any  social  non-moral 
power,  with  the  implication,  of  course,  that  it  is  not  allied  with 
rectitude ;  cf.  \p  49.  Here,  as  in  the  preceding  verse,  the  sage 
may  have  in  mind  both  natural  and  divine  law,  or  ordinary  social 
law  regarded  as  the  law  of  God.  It  is  not  said  that  wealth  is  in 
itself  bad,  but  it  is  hinted  that  some  men  rely  on  wealth  instead 
of  righteousness  to  save  them  from  calamity  —  a  condition  of 
things  that  holds  good  of  Hebrew  society  from  Amos  down  to  the 
second  century  B.C. ;  anywhere  within  this  period  such  a  proverb 
may  have  originated.  —  Righfeousfiess  was  sometimes  interpreted 
as  =  almsgiving  (cf,  note  on  lo")  ;    see  Tob.  12^,  and  cf.  BS.  29^^ 

—  Saadia  (loth  cent,  a.d.)  renders  in  first  cl.  day  of  restcrrection, 
against  the  usage  of  Pr.,  which  takes  no  account  of  the  future  life. 

—  5.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  figure  is  taken  from 
wayfaring  :  one  man  walks  safely  in  a  smooth,  level  road,  another, 
wandering  from  the  main  road,  stumbles  over  rough  places,  and 
falls  irretrievably.  See  note  on  v.^;  on  the  verb  smooth  (make 
level  or  straight)  see  3".  The  agencies  are  here  again  quahties, 
righteousness  and  wickedness,  and  the  same  union  of  human  and 
divine  law  as  in  the  preceding  verses  is  to  be  understood.  — 
6.  Antithetic,  ternary.  An  antithesis  nearly  identical  with  that 
of  v.^ :  goodness  is  socially  helpful,  badness  is  hurtful.  The  iden- 
tity would  be  complete  if  we  could  render  in  second  cl.  in  (or,  by) 
their  own  wickedness.  The  Heb.  word  (see  note  on  10')  has  two 
assured  senses,  desire  (always  evil)  and  calamity  or  destruction 
(17'*  19^^  Job  6^°  30^^);  the  latter  is  here  inappropriate  (RV.  im- 
properly, mischief),  the  former  approaches  nearly  the  idea  of 
wickedness,  —  The  figure  implied  in  caught  (or,  taken)  is  probably 
that  of  a  net  (cf.  6^  1//  35*),  possibly  that  of  the  capture  of  a  city 
(16^-).  The  term  wicked  of  the  second  cl.  is  the  same  as  that  so 
translated  in  v.^''. 

7.   The  text  is  uncertain.     The  Heb.  of  first  cl.  reads  : 
When  a  wicked  man  dies,  his  expectation  perishes. 

The  second  cl.,  in  its  present  form,  can  only  be  rendered  :  and 
the  hope  of  strength  (or,  sorrow)  perishes.      The  abstract  strength 


XI.  4-7  223 

is  taken  as  =  concrete  strong  by  Rashi  (who  holds  the  reference 
to  be  to  the  hope  of  the  children  of  strong  men),  and  by  De. ; 
but  the  term  (as  De.  points  out)  is  never  elsewhere  used  in  an 
ethical  sense,  and  (though  the  inadequacy  of  strength,  as  of  riches, 
v.*,  might  conceivably  be  referred  to)  we  expect  a  definite  ethical 
term  as  equivalent  or  opposite  to  the  wicked  of  first  cl. ;  nor  does 
the  concrete  sense  occur  elsewhere.  The  sense  iniquity,  wicked- 
ness or  tvicked,  unjust*  is  without  support  from  OT.  usage,  the 
plu.  (found  here)  being  never  elsewhere  so  employed.  The  ren- 
dering i-^rww  (Ew.)  ox  sorro7vful  (Berth.)  is  not  appropriate ;  it 
is  improbable  that  the  expectation  of  the  wicked  would  be  de- 
scribed simply  as  sorrowful  hope.  Failing  a  satisfactory  render- 
ing of  the  present  text,  emendations  have  been  proposed  :  Graetz, 
sons  (=  Rashi)  ;  Bi.  bad  men;  or  (by  dropping  the  plu.  termina- 
tion) we  get  iniquity.  But,  in  the  two  last  cases,  we  have  the 
proverb  consisting  of  two  identical  propositions,  which,  in  this 
place,  is  a  very  improbable  form.f  The  Grk.  suppUes  a  desired 
antithesis  by  rendering  : 

When  a  righteous  man  dies  his  hope  does  not  perish, 
But  the  boast  of  the  wicked  perishes. 

This  form,  which  is  not  supported  by  any  other  ancient  authority, 
looks  like  an  interpretation  of  the  Greek  scribe,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  later  belief  in  immortality.  The  true  text  of  the 
second  cl.  must  be  left  undetermined.  The  form  of  the  first  cl. 
suggests  that  the  hope  of  the  righteous  man,  in  the  sage's  view, 
would  not  perish  at  his  death.  If  such  an  interpretation  were 
certain  (here  and  in  14^^),  it  might  help  us  to  fix  the  time  at 
which  the  doctrine  of  immortality  entered  the  Jewish  world.  But 
the  doubt  respecting  the  second  cl.  attaches  itself  to  the  first  cl. 
also,  and  we  cannot  regard  its  form  as  assured.  The  more  natu- 
ral thought  for  Pr.  is  given  in  10^^  ii** ;  cf.  note  on  14^^  —  One  of 
the  clauses  of  the  verse  is  perhaps  a  doublet,  each  clause  having 
originally  read  :  the  hope  of  the  wicked  will  perish,  and  the  doublet 


*  Saad.,  Luth.,  Hitz.,  Zock.,  Noyes,  Reuss,  Str.,  Kamp. 

t  The  change  of  form  of  the  verb,  from  Impf.  in  first  cl.  to  Perf.  in  second  cl., 
is  not  to  strengthen  the  thought  (as  \i perishes,  will  perish  .  .  .  has  perished),  but 
is  rhetorical  variation. 


224  PROVERBS 

having  ejected  the  proper  antithetic  clause  which  described  the 
hope  of  the  righteous. 

8.  Rescue  of  the  righteous. 

The  righteous  is  delivered  out  of  trouble, 
And  the  wicked  comes  in  his  stead. 

Implicit  antithesis,  ternary.  In  his  stead  means  reversal  of  posi- 
tions, not  vicarious  suffering  (Isa.  53),  an  idea  not  found  in  Pr. ; 
cf.  21^**.  The  aphorism  contains  the  sage's  solution  of  the  problem 
of  evil.  The  righteous  is  sometimes  afflicted  —  of  this  fact  the 
sage  (unlike  the  author  of  Job)  attempts  no  discussion ;  but  the 
affliction,  he  maintains,  is  temporary  (so  Job  20'') — ultimately 
the  righteous  is  rescued  (so  12'-^),  and  the  wicked,  cast  down 
from  his  shortlived  triumph,  takes  his  proper  place  as  sufferer.  It 
is  the  doctrine  of  recompense  in  this  world.  The  case  of  the 
good  man's  suffering  and  the  bad  man's  prospering  throughout 
life  is  not  considered  here  or  elsewhere  in  the  Book.    Cf.  \\i  49.  73. 

9.  The  righteous  escapes  the  ruin  which  the  wicked  designs. 

With  his  mouth  the  impious  man  would  destroy  his  neighbor, 
But  by  knowledge  the  righteous  are  rescued. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  word  here  rendered  impi- 
ous seems  to  have  been  originally  a  ritual  term,  signifying  the  op- 
posite oi pure,  sacred  (so  =  profane'),  as  in  Isa.  10^  (and  the  verb 
in  Jer.  3^  Isa.  24^  Nu.  35^  i//  106'^)  ;  then  it  passed  to  the  sense 
of  morally  impure,  out  of  relation  with  God  (so  RV.  godless). 
Lat. :  simulator;  Aq.  Sym.  Theod. :  hypocrite.  The  speech  of 
such  an  one  is  false,  malignant,  likely  to  bring  his  fellowmen  into 
trouble  and  death  (as,  for  ex.,  by  traducing  them  to  men  in 
power).  There  is  probably  no  reference  to  the  corrupting  power 
of  evil  talk.  As  contrast  to  this  we  might  expect  in  second  cl. 
the  statement  (somewhat  as  in  10"')  that  the  righteous  saves  his 
neighbor  (and  so  perhaps  we  should  read),  instead  of  which  it  is 
said  that  he  escapes  (that  is,  apparently,  the  destruction  of  first 
cl.)  by  knowledge  —  either  by  general  acquaintance  with  Kfe  (a 
result  of  devotion  to  wisdom,  i^^'''^^  22^),  or  by  knowing  the  wiles 
of  the  impious  and  avoiding  them.  The  converse  statement  is 
found  in  10^^,  where   the  righteous  saves  with  his  lips,  and  the 


XI.  7-9  22  5 

wicked  die  through  ignorance.  In  general  in  Pr.  the  effect  of 
evil  and  good  is  confined  to  their  possessors.  —  Grk. :  in  the 
mouth  of  the  wipious  is  a  snare  for  citizens,  but  the  knowledge  of 
the  righteous  is  prosperous,  a  free  rendering  of  the  Heb.  (with 
some  changes  of  text),  affected  by  next  verse.  —  If  we  suppose 
second  cl.  to  be  isolated,  standing  in  no  logical  connection  with 
first  cl.,  its  meaning  may  be  that  knozvledge  (=  wisdom)  is  the 
saving  thing  in  life  —  a  conception  which  controls  chs.  1-9. 

XI.  1.  |!j  ^cSr;  (5  BiKawv.  On  the  use  of  5.  in  the  2d  century  n.c.  cf. 
Deissmann,  Bibehiiidiejt,  pp.  112  f.  —  2.  On  f'r'p  see  note  on  ■^^.  —  Stade 
(  Wbck.)  suggests  that  >'jx  is  Aram.;  he  refers  to  13^'',  which  has  the  general 
form  of  our  v.,  only  with  nxp  for  jSp,  and  Dsyj  well-advised  for  oyji'  htanble, 
but  such  mutations  of  subjects  and  predicates  are  common  in  Pr.,  and  there  is 
no  good  ground  for  changing  the  text  here;  cf.  Lag.  The  occurrence  of  yjx 
in  Mic.  6^  is  against  regarding  it  as  Aram.  (Baumg.).  —  ^"^  arbixa  M  TaireivQv 
fxeXerq.  ffotpLav,  in  which  <tt.  is  perh.  repetition  from  lo^^^  and  fieK.  insertion 
for  clearness,  it,  for  the  sake  of  formal  symmetry :  ubi  autem  hmniliias  ibi 
et  sapientia.  —  3.  Kethib  Diir'i  (adopted  in  2C)  is  scribal  error  for  Qere  aTi:'\  — 
|§  I^D;  Si  Nnm /rzoV  (a  guess;  cf.  Pink.) ;  %  supplaiitatio  ;  2C,  verb  p3'?Bj, 
shall  be  driven  forth.  The  stem  ti'?D  =  move  on  ;  Arab,  pass  by  or  forward ; 
Jew.  Aram,  ttirn  aside  ;  Heb.  turn  aside,  upside  doivn.  —  (S*^  dirodavwv  BiKaios 
e\Lwev  fjieTdfieXov,  perh.  =  Dn:n  □"\""i  nb3  (Jag.,  Bi.)  ;  cf.  v.'";  see  notes  of  Lag., 
Heid.,  Baumg.;  (§•>  =  ||J  v.i"''.  9  =  |£J.  — 4.  pj  p;  ^  Nipc  deceil,  =  Jin.— 
(g  109. 147  give  ||J;  the  v.  is  lacking  in  all  other  (@  MSS.,  perh.  by  scribal  over- 
sight, possibly  (Heid.)  omitted  from  dogmatic  considerations,  because  it  seemed 
to  favor  the  rabbinical  doctrine  of  justification  by  alms  (cf.  Baba  Bathra,  10  «) 
or  by  the  study  of  the  Tora  (see  the  Midrash),  against  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith.  —  5.  |^  DDn;  Bi.  an.  —  |^  S-Ji;  Yalkut  -\2'~'-;  Ber. 
Kab.  nm-,  both  free  renderings,  or  citations  from  memory;  cf.  v.^.  —  6.  The 
singular  construction  of  '^  (nin  without  suff.)  is  not  supported  by  Gen.  9"  (De.) 
or  ^  326  (Now.) ;  these  passages  do  not  leave  the  reader  to  infer  the  subject 
of  the  verb  from  a  preceding  predicate;  read  a^in,  with  (SSSTIL.  —  7.  See 
note  on  this  v.  above.  For  the  impossible  djs  (elsewhere  only  Hos.  9* 
Isa.  4o"*'29  \l/  78^1,  the  last  better  ein,  cf.  ^  10526)  we  may  read  (with  (S 
dcre^Qv)  a'^iN  (Bi.),  or  |1n  (but  this  latter  term  cannot  be  taken  as  concrete); 
but  the  form  of  the  whole  v.  is  doubtful.  In  '^  a-^x,  though  sustained  by  (§,  is 
better  omitted,  for  the  sake  of  the  rhythm.  —  8.  Impf.  followed  by  1  +  Impf., 
both  expressing  general  facts,  the  second  a  sequel  to  the  first;  it  is  unnecessary 
to  point  ].  —  1^  .1-1";  (5  d-qpas,  —  m>  (Jag.)  taken  as  =  persecution.  —  |^  irnn; 
(S  di'T'  avTod,  for  his  sake,  or  in  place  of  him. — 9.  no3,  with  the  mouth,  as 
n;;i3,  by  knoivledge  ;  or  we  may  write  no3.  —  ^yr\  is  to  turn  away  (to  good  or 
to  bad),  used  in  Arab,  of  persons  in  good  sense,  in  Aram,  and  Heb.  in  bad 
sense,  of  one  who  turns  from  religious  faithfulness,  profane,  and  so  in  Pr.  of 
Q 


226  PROVERBS 

the  wicked  in  general.  —  (5^  da-e^ibv  (x''  afj.apToi\wv)  ;  AS9  UTro/cptTiJs;  S  Sv 
■wicked;  lE^^i  ireacherotts ;  IL  simulator.  —  |^  in'n  rriw'^;  (5  wayh  -n-oKlTaLS, 
perh.  =  'T  (or  nncc)  nnc'. 

10,11.  Kelation  of  moral  goodness  to  civil  prosperity. 

10.  When  it  goes  well  with  the  righteous  the  city  rejoices, 
And  when  the  wicked  perish  there  is  shouting. 

11.  By  the  blessing  of  the  upright  the  city  is  exalted, 
But  by  the  mouth  of  the  wicked  it  is  overthrown. 

Antithetic;  apparently  quaternary-ternary.  See  14''^  28'^  29". 
The  first  couplet  states  the  fact,  the  second  the  reason.  The 
counsels  of  the  righteous,  controlled  by  probity,  bring  blessing  and 
prosperity  to  the  state  ;  those  of  the  wicked,  dictated  by  selfish 
ambition  and  rapacity,  bring  destruction.  This  view  of  the  rela- 
tion of  virtue  to  civil  prosperity  is  found  in  substance  in  the 
prophets  (Am.  4'-=^  Hos.  f'  Mic  f-'^  Isa.  3"-^^  Jer.  22--^  Ez.  22«-i*). 
But,  for  them  the  nation  is  the  unit,  and  the  worship  of  other  gods 
than  Yahweh  the  chief  sin ;  here  the  moral  side  alone  is  men- 
tioned, and  the  civil  unit  is  the  city.  It  was  in  the  Greek  period 
that  the  city-state  became  familiar  to  the  Jews,  and  it  seems  to  be 
this  later  civilization  that  is  here  meant.  —  The  expression  blessing 
of  the  upright  might  mean  God's  blessing  on  the  upright,  but  the 
parallel  }?iouth  (utterance,  counsel)  of  the  wicked  (which  is  malefi- 
cent) points  to  the  beneficent  words  (involving  deeds)  of  good  men. 

12,  13.   Against  contemptuous  talk  and  talebearing. 

12.  He  who  mocks  his  neighbor  is  lacking  in  sense, 
But  the  man  of  discretion  keeps  silent. 

13.  A  talebearer  reveals  secrets, 

But  a  trustworthy  man  conceals  a  matter. 

12.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Reversing  subject  and  predicate  in 
first  cl.,  we  may  read  :  the  fool  mocks  his  neighbor  (so  Grk.  Str. 
Kamp.)  ;  the  sense  is  the  same.  The  Heb.  has  despises.  Con- 
tempt, lack  of  due  regard  for  one's  neighbor,  may  show  itself  in 
various  ways  :  in  14"^  (where  its  opposite  is  care  for  the  poor)  it 
manifests  itself  in  indifference  to  men's  bodily  wellbeing;  here,  as 
it  stands  in  contrast  with  silence,  it  involves  speech.  A  man  who 
speaks  contemptuously  of  his  fellow-citizens  is  said  to  be  lacking 
in  sense  (Ht.  hearty  because  he  thus  makes  enemies  and  involves 


XI.  IO-I4 


227 


himself  and  others  in  difficulties  ;  it  is  obviously  the  part  of  ^..- 
^Zn  (or,  un^^erstandin,)  to  keep  silent.     The  reference  .s  no 
mmedi  tely  or  mainly  to  the  k^ndUness  (to  the  neighbor)   that 
sZd  si  one's  tongue,  or  to  reflection  on  the  falhbility  of  human 
ud  ments  that  shodd  make  one  cautious   (though  these  thmgs 
lould  naturally  be  involved),  but  to  a  prudent  regard  for  conse- 
quences in  social  relations.     Nor  is  the  line  drawn  between  ju  t 
L  blameworthy  criticism;   the  sage  ccn.tents  ^--^  ^f  j^ 
nouncing   contemptuous   talk  as  a  foohsh  thmg.  -  Grk^  .   -- 
lacking  in  sense  shows  contempt  for  his  fellow-atizens.  - 13.   Anti 
^tic    ternary.     A  simple  statement  of  two  types  of  character. 
The  Heb.  expression  describes  the  talebearer  as  one  who  goes 
about  spreading  malicious  gossip  -  lit.  .  walker  of  slander ;  see 
Ter  6^  q^^^^  Ez.  22«  Lev.  19^     It  is  unnecessary  to  render  by  he 
Iho  goes  about  as  a  talebearer  (RV.)  ;  the  going  is  included  m 
the   tear.      In  contrast  with  such  an  one  the   trustworthy  man 
(trusty  of  mind)   keeps  silence  respecting  things  which  he  has 
learned  in  confidential  intercourse  or  otherwise  -  secrets  of  family 
or  state;  the  reference  is  to  things  the  mention  of  which  is  dan- 
gerous or  undesirable.     The  first  cl.  occurs  in  20-;  on  secret  ci 
note  on  3^^ ;  the  word  is  here  to  be  taken  in  a  general  sense.    The 
clause  is  understood  by  Grk.  of  political  relations  (cf.  next  verse)  . 
a  double-tongued  man  reveals  the  deliberations  of  the  assembly  (or, 
council)  -  by  the  Lat.  of  private  affairs  :  he  who  rs  of  faithful  mmd 
conceals  his  friend^  s  act;  it  is  apphcable  to  all  the  relations  of  life. 

14.  Value  of  political  wisdom. 

Where  there  is  no  guidance  a  people  falls, 

But  in  the  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  safety. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  A  civil  and  political  adage.  Guidance  is 
Ut.  steering-  there  must  be  some  one  at  the  helm  ;  the  guidance 
is  assumed  to  be  good  (so  RV.,  interpreting,  wise  guidance).  Ihe 
nuMtude  of  counsellors  points  not  to  any  special  political  organi- 
zation, but  simply  to  the  need  of  manysided  advice  ;  that  will  be 
a  well-governed  city  or  state  in  which  questions  of  policy  are  looked 
at  from^  all  points  ;  Frank,  refers  to  the  "  friends  "  of  the  P  o  emies 
and  Seleucids.  On  the  term  guidance  see  note  on  i  ;  the  word 
belongs  to  the  poetical  vocabulary.      Instead  of  counsellors  the 


228  PROVERBS 

Anc.  Vrss.  have  counsel  or  counsels.  The  proverb  (which  has  no 
rehgious  element)  is  not  a  folksaying,  but  the  reflection  of  a  man 
living  in  contact  with  public  affairs.  Hitzig  cites,  as  representing 
the  opposite  point  of  view  :  "  too  many  cooks  spoil  the  broth." 

15.  Against  giving  security. 

He  who  is  surety  for  another  will  suffer, 
But  he  who  hates  suretyship  is  secure. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  A  prudential  maxim,  the  wisdom  of  which, 
as  a  general  rule,  is  verified  by  universal  experience,  though  there 
are  obvious  occasions  when  it  should  be  disregarded.  The  word 
here  rendered  another  (see  note  on  2''')  has  three  possible  mean- 
ings :  a  person  of  a  different  natioti ;  one  of  a  different  clan, 
family,  or  household ;  and  a  different  individual.  The  strong 
Jewish  national  and  family  feeling  might  seem  to  favor  the  first 
sense,  or  the  third,  with  exclusion  of  one's  immediate  family 
(father,  son,  brother).  But  the  tone  of  the  proverb  appears  to  be 
universal,  and  in  the  later  Jewish  life  the  old  relations  of  clan  had 
partly  vanished  — the  Jews  became  commercial,  and  needed  com- 
mercial strictness ;  exceptions  might  be  left  to  the  individual. 
Suretyship  is  lit.  (as  the  Heb.  text  stands)  those  ivho  go  security 
(lit.  strike  hands)  ;  cf.  6^  17^^  22^^  Si/fer  is  go  ill.  RV.  he  that 
hateth  suretiship  is  sure  gives  a  good  verbal  play. 

16.  Honor  to  good  women. 

A  gracious  -woman  obtains  honor, 
Violent  men  olatain  wealth. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  This  is  the  only  verse  in  Pr.  in  which  men 
are  contrasted  with  women  (such  contrast  is  not  made  in  19'^). 
If  the  text  be  correct,  the  proverb  relates  to  the  struggle  for  riches 
and  social  position  in  communities  in  which  women  had  some  sort 
of  influence,  and  the  contrast  is  between  upright  gentleness  and 
immoral  force  :  an  unscrupulous  man  may  gain  riches,  but  not 
esteem  —  a  woman  of  gracious  bearing,  beautiful  in  manner  (and 
presumably,  in  spirit)  obtains  honor.  And  as  the  industrious 
woman  of  31^^  helps  to  procure  social  consideration  for  her  hus- 
band, so  the  honor  here  may  be  for  husband  and  family,  though 
women  in  Pr.  (except  those  of  licentious  character)  have  no  im- 


XL  14-17  229 

mediate  relations  with  society  at  large ;  but  as  there  is  no  mention 
of  family,  it  is  probably  better  to  understand  the  expression  as 
referring  to  the  esteem  which  comes  to  the  woman  Ikrself  from 
her  family  and  her  circle  of  friends.  —  The  Grk.  expresses  a  fuller 
antithesis  by  means  of  two  couplets  : 

A  gracious  woman  obtains  honor  for  her  husband, 

But  a  woman  who  hates  righteousness  is  a  throne  of  dishonor. 

The  slothful  come  to  lack  riches, 

But  the  manly  lean  (securely)  on  riches. 

Lines  1,4  represent  the  Heh. ; /or  her  husband  is  interpreta- 
tion. Lines  2,  3  are  probably  an  addition  by  a  Greek  scribe  ; 
throne  is  nowhere  else  used  of  a  person  (the  expression  perhaps 
comes  from  \\i  94™)  ;  hates  righteousness  indicates  that  gracious  is 
taken  as  =  righteous ;  line  3  may  be  rendered  :  they  who  are 
slothful  as  to  riches  come  to  want.  —  It  is  possible  that  the  two 
lines  of  the  Heb.  verse  are  remnants  of  two  independent  couplets, 
the  first  relating  to  women,  the  second  to  men ;  but  the  Grk. 
hardly  gives  the  true  text. 

17.  Kindliness  is  good  policy. 

The  kindly  man  does  himself  good, 
The  cruel  man  does  himself  harm. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Self  is  lit.  soul  in  first  cl.,  flesh  in  second 
cl. ;  the  two  terms  are  synonymous  —  the  Heb.  language  expresses 
the  idea  self  only  by  such  words.  It  is  on  this  term  that  the  em- 
phasis is  laid ;  it  is  himself  that  the  kind  man  helps  and  the  cruel 
man  hurts  —  the  one  makes  friends,  the  other  makes  enemies  ;  the 
commendation  of  kindness  is  based  on  its  good  results  to  him 
who  practises  it  —  a  practical  suggestion  which  would  not  prevent 
the  sage's  holding  that  it  is  in  itself  an  obligatory  thing.  There 
is  probably  (to  judge  from  the  rest  of  the  Book)  no  reference  to 
the  ennobling  power  of  one  quality  and  the  depraving  power  of 
the  other.  The  translation  (Mich.):  he  who  does  good  to  hitnself 
is  kind  {to  others')  and  he  ivho  is  hurtful  to  hitnself  is  cruel  {to 
others),  is  grammatically  possible,  but  here  improbable,  because  of 
the  difficulty  of  supplying  to  others,  and  because  in  the  context 
^y_i8-2o.  24-L'6-j  the  subjects  of  the  lines  are  such  words  as  righteous, 
wicked,  kind,  cruel 


230  PROVERBS 

10, 11.  nnp  (v.i'^)  occurs  in  preexilian  prophets  (Hos.  Isa.  Hab.)  and  several 
times  in  Pr.,  m|i  (v.i^)  only  in  poetical  books  (Job  29^  Pr.  8^  9^-  ^'^  ii^i) ;  the  use 
of  the  two  words  is  not  a  ground  for  supposing  difference  of  authorship  in  the 
two  V.  (so  Hitz.,  who  omits  v.i'^),  since  both  terms  seem  to  have  been  common  in 
the  writer's  time.  —  ©^  here  omits  v.'^''  (which  it  gives  in  v.^**)  and  v.i'%  making 
one  couplet  of  v.'*'*H'';  the  omission,  apparently  scribal  error,  is  supplied  in 
(gABbNc  (taken,  according  to  S'^,  from  6).  (§  Karwpdoicre  (I'V^'n)  is  changed 
to  KaTwpx?jcraTo  by  Lag.,  who  refers  the  present  (5  text  to  Theodotion.  — 
12.  1^  n^n;  (3  noXLTas,  as  in  v.^'^,  a  political  interpretation  natural  m  a  city 
like  Alexandria.  — 13.  '?ioi  elsewhere  =  ^/awt/i?/- /  so  Ez.  22^ '"\  •'fjN,  Jer.  6*^^ 
9^,  and  probably  Lev.  ig^^  Pr.  20'^.  The  vb.  -t'?.i  has  the  sense  oi  going  about, 
Jos.  14^°.  For  the  construction  here  cf.  Isa.  33^^  r^^-\^  ^S^  one  who  walks  in 
righteousness ;  cf.  also  the  common  construction  in  which  'n  is  defined  by  an 
Inf.  abs.  The  st.  is  S:n  go,  whence  the  noun  =  a  going,  gadding,  and,  as  the 
principal  occupation  of  gadabouts  is  malicious  gossip,  talking  maliciously, 
and  so  slander.  i'?n  is  sometimes  followed  by  an  adj.  which  describes  the 
condition  of  the  subject  of  the  vb.,  as  in  Gen.  15^  {I  go  childless),  2  S.  15'''' 
Job  24^°,  and  so  "\  might  perhaps  be  taken  here  (=  slanderer,  talebearer'), 
but  for  the  phrases  in  Jer.  and  Ez.  above  cited;  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  adj.  after  iSn  describes  the  condition  rather  than  the  action  of  the  subject, 
Cf.  SS.,  in  which  both  constructions  of  ">  are  given,  adj.  under  iSn,  subst. 
under  '?pi.  — On  ib  see  note  on  3^''^;  (5,  freely,  jSoi/Xas  kv  (rvve^pii^.  — 14.  |§  Sd^ 
D;';  @  TrlirTOV<riv  wa-irep  (pijWa,  =  n"?';:,  cf.  v.'^  (JSg-)-  —  For  |^  ]'•/>  (sing., 
defining  the  category)  the  Anc.  Vrss.  read  n-i"  counsel,  as  in  12^^  20^^^  ^nd 
this  is  perh.  preferable  as  corresponding  more  precisely  to  nS^n.i  in  first  cl.  — 
15.  In  '^  ^n;  jjT  the  vb.  must  be  taken  as  Nif.  of  i'>n  (not  >'n,  Ges.26  §67/), 
and  the  yi  as  intensive  nominal  addition,  performing  the  function  of  Inf.  Abs, 
(cf.  Ew.  §  312^);  and  we  may  point  p^  (Gratz).  Siegfried,  in  JVbch.,  pro- 
poses to  omit  j.n%  or  to  read  jni  y^,  Inf.  Abs.  +  Impf.  Qal,  which  is  the  usual 
construction;  but,  as  Nif  occurs  in  1320  and  the  j?-i  is  intelligible,  the  change 
is  unnecessary.  —  For  |^  2-\y  o  read  3  v.  —  |^  ir;  Gr,  itS,  as  in  6^;  see  note 
on  20^^.  —  The  verb  };pp  occurs  in  the  sense  of  making  a  bargain  only  in  Job 
and  Pr. ;  this  Hmitation  is  perhaps  an  accident.  |^  ^''?i^,  Act.  Partcp.,  should 
perhaps  be  written  •;pr\  Inf.  —  the  a  may  have  arisen  from  following  3 ;  SS. 
suggests  Pass.  Partcp.  (cf.  opri',  Eccl.  4I) ;  for  Act.  Partcp.  as  =  abstract  noun 
D'73n,  Zech.  11'',  is  not  decisive.  —  @  irov-qpbs  KaKOTroie?  (vO  Srav  (rvfjifiL^rj 
SiKalu!  (it)  /jLLceT  d^  ^x^"  dacpaXeias  (n'J3D  J-'pp).  In  second  cl.  S  has  ^a/^.f 
those  ivho  confidently  hope  ;  %  hates  those  who  put  their  trust  in  God.  It  was 
chiefly  the  word  aypn  (IL  laqueos)  that  embarrassed  the  ancient  translators. 
For  further  discussion  of  the  readings  of  the  Anc.  Vrss.  see  notes  of  Jag,, 
Schleus.  Lag.  Heid,  Baumg.  Pink.  — 16.  See  note  on  this  v.  above.  For 
1^  ]n  we  might  read  '^^n.  as  in  la*  (recalling  also  the  '^■'n  ni:'N  of  ch.  31),  but 
the  jn  also  gives  a  definite  and  natural  character.  —  Whether  or  not  the 
expanded  text  of  ©  (adopted  by  Bi.)  comes  from  a  Hebrew  MS.  may  be 
doubtful;  but  the  strangeness  of  the  expression  Opdvos  dTi/xlas  and  the  vigorous 


XL  18-19  231 

curtness  of  ^  favor  the  originality  of  the  latter.  E1L  agree  with  ^ ;  &  follows 
7-^  m..^;  ®-Ma;  Sor.o.s,  probably  for  o^.do.sCSchl.);  !L /..- 
%,uos.-m  "-P^;  ^-  -^^  °"  5^  ®  writes  a  form  of  ...,  there  properly, 
here  improperly. 

18-21.   Contrasted  rewards  of  virtue  and  vice.    Antithetic. 

18.  The  wicked  earns  delusive  pay, 

But  he  who  sows  righteousness  real  wages. 

19.  If  one  « follows  after  -  righteousness,  (it  leads)  to  hfe, 
If  one  pursues  wickedness,  (it  leads)  to  death. 

20     They  who  are  of  wicked  mind  are  an  abomination  to  \  ahweh, 
But  they  who  are  perfect  in  their  walk  are  well-pleasmg  to  him. 

21.    The  wicked  will  assuredly  not  go  unpunished, 
But  the  righteous  will  be  rescued. 

18  Ternary  The  form  of  expression  is  taken  from  industrial 
life  '  J?ea/  wages  is  lit.  reward  of  truth.  The  gain  of  a  bad  man 
is  not  real,  for  it  is  not  enduring  (lO^O,  and  camiot  save  hnn  from 
misfortune  (n*),  but  he  who  sows  goodness  shall  reap  prosperity 
(lo^n— his  revenue  is  real  and  permanent,  not  illusive.  The 
fact  is  here  recognized  that  a  bad  man  sometimes  prospers,  and 
the  explanation  offered  is  that  his  prosperity  is  only  seeming;  cf. 
note  on  v.«.     The  Latin  has  a  slightly  different  form  : 

The  ungodly  does  unstable  work, 

But  to  him  who  sows  righteousness  there  is  a  faithful  reward; 

but  the  idea  of  Mv,  wages  for  work  done,  is  clearly  found  in  both 
clauses.     Goodness,  says  the  proverb,  is  commercially  profitable 
-the  pay  is  prosperity,  insured  by   the  laws  of  man  and  the 
favor  of  God. -19.   Ternary.      The  second  cl.  is  lit.:    he  who 
pursues  wickedness,  to  his  death  (RV.  doeth  it  to  his  own  death). 
The  general  idea  of  the  verse  is  plain:    righteousness  insures  a 
long  and  happy  life,  wickedness  a  premature  or  otherwise  unhappy 
death  ;  see  notes  on  i--  2--  3^     The  wording  of  the  first  cl.  is 
doubtful      The  more  natural  rendering  of  the  Heb.  is  so  righteous- 
ness (tends)  to  life  (Saad.)  ;  this  would  connect  the  verse  with 
the  preceding  as  illustration  or  result  (Luther  has  for,  Noyes^.) ; 
but  such  connection  is  contrary  to  the  usage  of  this  Part  of  Jr., 
in  which  each  verse  is  an  independent  affirmation,  and  besides, 
the  relation  of  thought  between  this  verse  and  the  preceding  does 


232  PROVERBS 

not  suggest  or  justify  a  connective  so.  The  word  may  be  taken  as 
adj.,  =  true,  righteous  (Ew.,  see  note  on  15',  Jer.  23'"),  but  right- 
eous in  righteousness  is  insufferable  tautology  :  if  it  be  taken  as 
subst.,  =  that  which  is  true,  righteous,  genuineness  (Rashi,  Coco. 
Schult.  De.  Str.),  the  resulting  expression,  what  is  true  in  right- 
eousness (  =  not  true  righteousness,  but  the  true  part  of  righteous- 
ness) is  unnatural ;  the  renderings  firm,  steadfast  (Zock.  RV.) 
are  lexicographically  unsupported,  and  this  objection  holds  to 
Vogel's  emendation  he  who  is  firm  in  his  walk.  The  Lat.  has 
clemency,  Grk.  and  Syr.  (by  a  change  of  text)  son  (Grk.  a  righteous 
son  is  born  unto  life).  The  expression  son  of  is  used  frequently 
in  OT.  to  denote  doom  or  quality,  but  always  evil  quality  :  31^ 
sons  of  destruction,  \\i  79'^  so7is  of  death,  \\i  89"'"^^  son  of  ivicked- 
ness,  and  the  common  son  of  depravity  {belial,  i  Sam.  25'^,  cf. 
note  on  Pr.  6^')  ;  the  reading  son  of  righteousness  would  give  a 
not  wholly  unsatisfactory  sense  if  so7i  could  be  supposed  to  be 
properly  used  in  a  good  sense.  The  Partcp.  he  who  pursues  sug- 
gests for  the  first  cl.  a  Partcp.  he  7vho  folloivs  after  (\\\..  feeds  on, 
15")  ;  cf.  \2^^,  the  form  of  which  is  similar  to  that  of  this  verse. 
—  20.  Ternary.  General  statement  of  the  moral  demands  of  the 
divine  favor;  cf.  12"  14'  15^.  Mind  (lit.  heart)  is  the  whole 
spiritual  being.  They  who  are  of  ivicked  mind,  lit.  the  wicked 
(averted,  perverted)  of  mind,  are  those  who  stray  from  the  straight 
path  of  goodness.  The  perfect  man  is  morally  well-rounded,  com- 
plete ;  the  term  in  OT.  involves  general  right  feeling,  but  not 
absolute  perfection  of  soul ;  see  note  on  2^^.  No  heightening  of 
effect  or  increase  of  intensity  is  involved  in  the  sequence  mind 
.  .  .  walk  (  =  conduct)  ;  the  two  terms  are  equivalent,  each  involv- 
ing the  other.  The  terms  abomination  and  well-pleasing  2xt  oppo- 
sites,  originally  ritualistic,  here  ethical;  see  Dt.  7^^  Lev.  2  2^\  and 
notes  on  3^"  8'^.  —  21.  Ternary.  The  idea  is  a  fundamental  one 
in  Pr.,  the  reference  being  always  to  retribution  in  this  life ;  see 
j26-33  221-22^  etc.  Assurcdfy  (so  recent  expositors  and  lexicographers 
generally)  is  lit.  hand  to  hand/,  the  meaning  of  which  is  properly 
given  in  margin  of  RV. :  tny  ha7id  upon  it!  =  my  word  for  it! 
It  appears  to  be  a  popular  phrase  of  asseveration,  derived  from 
the  procedure  in  a  bargain,  in  which  the  parties  clasped  hands ; 
so  in  v.^^  above,  6\  and  Job  17'  who  will  clasp  my  hand  (enter 


XI.   19-22  233 

into  a  bargain  with  me,  be  my  security)  ?     The  rendering  though 
hand  {.join)    in  hand  (RV.)   =  though   men   unite    their  forces, 
a-ainst  which  the  form  of  the  Heb.  sentence  is  decisive  ;  of.  i6'\ 
Tlie  translation  (Schult.  Ges.  after  the  Arab,  usage)  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  ^through  all  time,  is  not  supported  by  Heb. 
usage.     Saad.  :   as  the  turn  of  hand  to  hand,  apparently  =  sud- 
denly.    Rashl  explains  the  clause  to  mean  :  from  the  hand  of  God 
to  the  hand  of  the  wicked  the  retribution  will  come.     Targ.  and 
Syr.  -.  he  who  lifts  his  hand  against  his  nciglihor  shall  not  be  held 
innocent  of  evil,  a  mistranslation.      In  second  cl.  the   Heb.  has 
the   seed  of  the  righteous,  the  seed  meaning   simply  race,  as  in 
Isa.  I*  (where  the  prophet  calls  his  contemporaries  a  seed  of  evil- 
doers^, 65-^  (where  seed  is  contrasted  with  offspring),  and   not 
posterity  (a  sense  which  the  word  often  has)  ;  a  reference  to  pos- 
terity (Berth,  al.,  in  the  sense  :  not  merely  the  righteous,  but  also 
their  descendants)  would  be  inappropriate  here,  where  the  purpose 
is  simply  to  contrast  the  fates  of  the  wicked  and  the  righteous. 

22.  Beauty  without  discretion. 

A  golden  ring  in  a  swine's  snout  — 
Such  is  a  fair  woman  without  discretion. 

A  simple  comparison,  ternary,  but  with  omission  of  the  particle 
of  comparison  — the   Heb.  says:    a  golden   ring  .  .  .  is  a  fair 
■woman  ...     The  nose-ring  was,  and  is,  a  common  ornament  of 
women  in  Western  Asia,  and  in  many  barbarous  and  half-civilized 
tribes  ;  see  Gen.  24^^  Ju.  8^"  Isa.  3^^  Job  42",  and  Lane's  Manners 
and  Customs  of  the  Modern  Egyptians,  Appendix  A.     The  term 
rendered  discretion  signifies  first  physical  taste  (Ex.  16'''  Job  6'0, 
then  capacity  of  intellectual  discrimination  (i  Sam.  25'^  Job  12-  ), 
and  apparently  also  ethical  and  religious  judgment  {^  nc/")-     It 
occurs  in  one  other  place  in  Pr.  (24''),  where  it  means  intellectual 
judgment,  opinion,  answer  based  on  sound  judgment.     Here  the 
moral  element  is  probably  included.      There  is  as  great  incon- 
gruity, it  is  said,  in  the  union  of  beauty  of  person  and  deformity 
of  mind  and  character  in  a  woman  as  in  the  presence  of  a  rich 
ornament  on  the  coarsest  and  uncleanest  of  beasts  (so  the  Grk.)  ;* 

*  There  is  no  allusion  to  a  ring  used  to  lead  animals,  for  which  process  Heb. 
employs  the  word  hook  {2.  K.  ig-"^  Ez.  19*). 


234  PROVERBS 

this  is  no  doubt  the  meaning  of  the  condensed  expression  of  the 
Heb.  that  such  a  woman  /s  a  ring,  etc. 

23.  Character  determines  fortune. 

The  desire  of  the  righteous  issues  only  in  good, 
The  expectation  of  the  wicked  in  wrath. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Desire  =  expectaiion.  Lit.  .  .  .  is  only 
good,  and  .  .  .  is  wraih  (or,  arrogance) .  The  proverb  is  suscep- 
tible of  two  interpretations,  according  as  we  take  the  predicates 
to  express  quahties  or  results  of  the  subjects.  In  the  first  case 
(De.)  the  desire  of  righteous  men  is  described  as  itself  good, 
morally  pure,  embracing  praiseworthy  objects,  that  of  wicked  men 
as  selfseeking,  proud,  arrogant  (such  is  the  sense  of  the  word  in 
Isa.  1 6^,  =  Jer.  48^").  In  the  second  case  it  is  declared  that  the 
issue  of  hope  will  be  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  man 
—  prosperity  (divine  favor)  for  the  one  class,  wrath  (divine  pun- 
ishment) for  the  other ;  the  last  word  of  the  verse  commonly 
means  anger,  of  man  (Gen.  49O,  or  of  God  (Isa.  13^^  Zeph.  i^^)  ; 
such  is  its  sense  in  ii^  where  day  of  wrath  is  parallel  with  {doom 
of)  death.  If  the  first  interpretation  be  adopted,  it  will  be  under- 
stood that  the  hope  of  the  righteous  is  fulfilled,  that  of  the  wicked 
denied  (Grk.  is  destroyed) .  The  second  interpretation  is  favored 
by  such  proverbs  as  10-^-*  11^,  and  by  the  tone  of  the  Book,  which 
in  general  describes  the  consequences  of  actions.  It  is,  besides, 
very  nearly  a  tautology  to  say  that  the  desire  of  a  good  man  is 
good,  that  of  a  bad  man  bad. 

24-26.  Liberality  or  generosity,  and  niggardliness  or  avarice. 

24.  One  man  spends,  yet  still  increases. 

Another  withholds  what  is  proper,  but  (it  tends)  only  to  want. 

25.  The  liberal  man  will  be  prospered. 

And  he  who  waters  will  himself  be  watered. 

26.  He  who  withholds  corn,  the  people  curse  him, 
But  blessing  is  on  the  head  of  him  who  sells  it. 

24.  Complete  antithesis,  ternary  :  one  spends  and  grows,  another 
hoards  and  declines.  Lit.  there  is  one  who  spetids.  The  terms  and 
the  sense  seem  to  be  general  —  there  is  no  special  reference  to 
almsgiving  (as  in  \p  112^),  but  it  is  said  that  a  just  expenditure 


XI.   22-26  235 

of  one's  wealth,  in  every  way,  is  rational  policy,  tending  to  gain. 
That  the  reference  is  to  physical  wealth  (and  not  to  thought  and 
act)  may  be  inferred  from  similar  expressions  in  Pr.  (n^^-^e  j^23 
21^),  and  that  a  general  habit  or  policy  is  spoken  of  appears  from 
the  general  character  of  the  terms  employed  :  experience  teaches 
that  the  man  of  liberal  methods  prospers,  and  such  an  one,  it  is 
probably  meant  to  say,  has  the  blessing  of  God.  The  sage  does 
not  seem  to  have  in  mind  a  man's  care  of  himself.  Proper  is 
that  which  is  just,  appropriate  to  the  circumstances  (the  RV, 
rendering  more  than  is  proper  is  incorrect)  ;  want  is  lack,  deficit. 
See  a  similar  thought  in  BS.  ii".  In  second  cl.  the  Lat.  (and  so 
the  Syr.)  has,  incorrectly  :  Others  seize  what  is  not  theirs,  and  are 
always  in  want.  —  25.  Synonymous  (a  form  of  rare  occurrence  in 
chs.  10-15),  ternary.  Liberal  maji  is  lit.  person  (lit.  soul)  of 
blessing,  one  who  dispenses  kindness,  beneficence.  Prospered  is 
lit.  made  fat,  metaphor  derived  from  the  condition  of  well-nour- 
ished animals  or  vegetables  (Ju.  9'''  Isa.  30^  Jer.  31^^  Job  36'^,  cf. 
Pr.  13*  28-''*)  ;  the  metaphor  in  waters,  watered  is  agricultural. 
The  reference  appears  to  be  specifically  to  kindly,  generous  con- 
duct toward  others ;  the  reward  of  such  conduct  is  determined 
by  social  laws  and  by  the  divine  approval.  —  26.  Antithetic,  ter- 
nary. Allusion  to  the  practice  of  hoarding  grain  in  seasons  of 
scarcity  in  order  to  sell  it  at  a  high  price.  This  is  the  only  men- 
tion in  OT.  of  this  procedure  so  frequent  in  commercially  devel- 
oped communities  ;  Am.  8^"^  speaks  only  of  eager  desire  to  make 
money,  and  of  fraudulent  methods  in  trade.  The  practice  here 
denounced  probably  became  familiar  to  the  Jews  under  Greek 
governments  in  great  commercial  and  financial  centres.  Syr.  and 
Targ. :  He  who  ivithholds  corn  in  time  of  famine  shall  be  aban- 
doned to  his  enemies,  in  which  the  last  expression  is  based  on  a 
misreading  of  the  Hebrew. 

18.  There  is  a  paronomasia  in  n|"ir,  "i^r;  the  latter  Stade  would  write  nsr 
or  'ilDty  (so  S),  since  the  usual  noun-form  is  iri';  the  assonance,  however, 
may  be  intended;  S  maybe  free  rendering  of  |^.  The  Participles  express  the 
general  rule;  tw)  is  to  be  understood  in  second  cl.  (S  ffiripua  5^  diKalwv,  as 
in  |§,  V.-''',  which  see.  — 19.  See  note  on  this  v.  above.  Omit  the  suff.  in 
inb,  as  in  all  Anc.  Vrss. — 1§  jr;  (@  (followed  by  S>)  vi6s,  and  Bi.  p;  21  NJ^n 
l3yT  IXC,  apparently  taking  p  as  =  i::'xj;   IL  clementia,  perhaps  taking  n|-ns 


236  PROVERBS 

in  the  sense  of  alms  (Baumg.),  and  p  from  stem  |ir,  or  possibly  reading  p. 
The  connection  calls  for  a  term  parallel  to  the  qnc  of  '°;  Kamp.  n;;^,  he  who 
associates  with,  after  15I*  Hos.  12^  \p  37^;  Gr.  pr,  graphically  easy,  but  not 
appropriate  in  sense,  even  though,  with  Vogel,  we  supply  *?  lom;  nb'j?  is 
graphically  possible  in  the  old  alphabet,  but  not  easy;  to  pr:  the  same  objec- 
tion lies  as  to  jjd;  Kamp.'s  emendation  may  be  provisionally  accepted. — 
20.  In  *  ©  has  68ol  for  |^  2'-,  assimilation  to  •>,  and  in  ^  rhetorically  inserts 
Travres.  —  21.  With  t>':'  i^  cf.  the  common  expression  ^D  >'pr,  strike  hands. — 
1^  apis  Jjir;  (§,  not  so  well,  6  o-n-elpov  8iKaio(T^vr]v,  =  npis  j?-ir.  —  For  |f^  taSnj 
(3  has  \-fifj.\p€Tai.  fuffdov  iruTrbv,  after  v}^'^  (Lag.).  —  22.  |^  2r\}  (favored  by  the 
rhythm)  is  lacking  in  (5^,  found  in  (S*<'^»;  the  epithet  is  often  inserted  in  |^, 
but  sometimes  omitted,  as  in  Hos.  2'^  Isa.  ^^^  Ez.  i6'-^.  —  23.  PJ  ^"i^i?; 
(5  dTroXetrat,  =  .-|-I3N,  and  so  De'  Rossi  941,  a  natural  reading,  but  not  dis- 
tinctly antithetic  to  the  33  of  ^— 24.  pj  iu'^;  Perles,  Analekt.,  p.  88,  ic^ 
Wifrt///i,  which  is  appropriate,  but  not  better  than  pj. — (5,  in  "",  eialv  koX  o\ 
avvdyovTe's,  apparently  free  rendering  of  |£J.  —  25.  In  |^  sn"  the  n  seems  to 
be  substitution,  by  an  Aramaic-speaking  scribe,  for  n,  which  is  found  in  many 
MSS.  of  Kenn.  and  De'  Rossi  (in  which,  however,  it  may  be  correction).  The 
stem  may  be  nn,  Hof.  ryyy,  whence  n",  nn*,  nv,  or  (Fleisch.,  De.),  by  metath- 
esis, T^-\v,  n-\i^;  or,  from  st.  m>  (Hos.  6^)  we  may  get  Hof.  nn-,  nv;  it  is, 
perhaps,  better  to  emend  to  Hof.  (Bi.)  or  Nif.  (Gr.)  of  nn;  2^  takes  the  form 
from  Hif.  mh  teach,  &  from  -nx  curse,  both  improbable,  (g  is  corrupt;  its 
iraffa  aw\7j  is  perhaps  for  TriauBrjcreTat.  will  be  fattened  (so  AS9),  and  its 
6vix(hb-q%  for  ixidvffos  (S),  or  perhaps  =  fJlD  one  zvho  excites  anger ;  ewx^MW 
may  =  nsnn  ata,  or  may  represent  a  form  of  r\Q'^.  —  26.  |^  I'l^pi;  @  viroXiTroiTo, 
=  Aram.  pOB*  (so  SiW-). 

27.   Kindness  gains  goodwill. 

He  who  seeks  good  <  wins'  favor. 

He  who  seeks  evil,  it  will  overtake  him. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  word  rendered  favor  may  =  good- 
7vill,  acceptance  (12^  14^),  or  what  pleases,  what  is  acceptable 
(10^-,  etc.);  see  note  on  8^.  The  good  and  evil  are  better  taken 
in  a  wide  sense,  as  embracing  moral  (as  in  Am.  5")  and  general 
conditions  (as  in  3^-"  13-^  i/zgi^'^  Eccl.  2^^),  and  as  describing  the 
man's  conduct  toward  others.  The  second  cl.  declares  that  evil 
doing  rebotmds  on  its  author  —  such  is  the  implication  in  the 
expression  overtake,  lit.  come  upon  (or  to)  him.  The  first  cl. 
should  give  the  antithesis  to  this  :  he  who  seeks  good  (for  others), 
it  will  come  to  him  as  well.  The  Heb.  has  seeks  favor;  the  seeks 
may  be  understood  to  mean  is  thus  really  seeking  {and  finding) 
favor,  or,  if  this  be  thought  to  be  putting  too  much  into  the  word, 


XI.  27-29  237 

we  may  change  the  text.  The  simple  sense  of  seeks  yields  no 
satisfactory  meaning  for  the  clause.  The  favor  can  hardly  be 
taken  as  =  God's  favor,  for,  if  such  reference  had  been  intended, 
the  divine  name  would  have  been  expressed  (De.),  as  in  12^  If 
the  favor  be  understood  as  referring  to  man,  we  have  (in  the  Heb. 
text)  the  statement  that  he  who  wishes  good  fortune  for  himself 
must  so  act  as  to  gain  the  goodwill  of  others,  must  do  what  is 
pleasing  to  them  —  an  idea  found  nowhere  else  in  Pr.,  and  here 
offering  no  good  contrast  to  first  cl.  Nor  is  the  noun  {favor,  or, 
what  is  acceptable)  elsewhere  in  OT.  preceded  by  the  verb  seek, 
and  it  is  better  to  understand  some  such  term  as  win,  gain,  obtain, 
procure  (so  AV.,  Reuss).  Yet  this  reading  does  not  give  a  perfect 
antithesis,  and  it  may  be  better  to  supply  the  divine  name,  and 
render  :  he  who  seeks  what  is  (morally)  good  secures  God's  favor, 
while  he  who  seeks  what  is  (morally)  bad  brings  down  on  him- 
self 'divine  retribution.  Possibly  the  two  lines  belong  to  different 
couplets. 

28.  Folly  of  trusting  in  wealth. 

He  who  trusts  in  his  riches  will  fall, 

But  the  righteous  will  flourish  like  the  green  leaf. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  antithesis  assumes  that  the  man  who 
trusts  in  riches  is  ungodly,  and  that  the  righteous  trust  not  in 
riches,  but  in  God.  Riches  is  here  the  representative  of  worldly 
power,  and  the  admonition  is  directed  not  against  legitimate  con- 
fidence in  wealth  (as  a  means,  for  example,  of  doing  good),  but 
against  the  belief  that  it  can  save  a  bad  man  from  the  conse- 
quences of  his  deeds  (that  is,  from  human  or  divine  wrath) ;  see 
10^  11^  i/'  62"'<^".  The  metaphor  is  different  in  the  two  clauses  — 
it  is  taken  in  the  first  from  a  building,  in  the  second  from  a  tree. 
Identity  of  metaphor  may  be  gained  by  substituting  fade  for  fall 
(see  {p  I"  3  7"),  by  the  change  of  one  Heb.  letter,  or  (as  in  the  Grk.) 
by  reading  rise  instead  oi  flourish.  The  former  of  these  changes 
gives  a  natural  sense,  but  it  is  hardly  necessary;  difference  of 
metaphor  in  two  clauses  of  a  proverb  is  not  unnatural. 

29.  Economic  folly  of  stinginess. 

He  who  brings  distress  on  his  household  will  have  the  wind  as  his  possession, 
And  the  foolish  will  be  slave  to  the  wise. 


238  PROVERBS 

Synonymous,  ternary.  For  the  verb  brhigs  distress  on,  or  harms 
{RY.troubleth)  see  11^  15*' 2-  Gen.  34™  i  Sam.  14^9  i  K.  18"; 
household  is  lit.  house ;  the  rendering  inherit  for  the  second  verb 
in  first  cl.  (RV.)  is  possible  (the  man  may  be  said  to  inherit  pov- 
erty from  his  own  folly),  but  the  idea  is  rather  that  of  coming  to 
possess.  The  general  sense  of  the  verse  is  indicated  in  12''^^ 
J  ^1.19  J  ^2.  ^]^g  xn-3ixv  who,  by  incapacity,  negligence,  or  niggardli- 
ness, fails  to  nourish  and  build  up  his  household  will  find  his  re- 
sources reduced  to  nothing ;  for  wind,  as  =  nothingness,  see  Jer. 
5^^  Eccl.  i".  The  second  cl.  restates  the  case  :  a  man  guilty  of 
this  economic  and  moral  folly  becomes  literally  or  virtually  a  slave. 
The  wise  man  (lit.  wise  of  mind)  is  thrifty  and  successful,  and 
neglect  of  one's  own  family  is  declared  to  be  the  sign  of  a  fool. 
Slavery  existed  among  the  Jews  throughout  the  OT.  time  (Neh.  5^ 
Pr.  12^  if  30^",  etc.),  and  later*  ;  but  whether  the  reference  here 
is  to  the  holding  of  Hebrew  slaves  by  a  Hebrew  master  is  uncer- 
tain—  foreign  slaves  might  be  possessed  by  a  Jew,  or  Jewish 
slaves  by  a  foreigner.  —  Possibly  the  two  clauses  do  not  belong 
together. 

30.  Life  and  death  the  outcome  of  conduct. 

Our  Heb.  text  reads : 

The  fruit  of  a  righteous  man  is  a  tree  of  life, 
But  a  wise  man  takes  lives. 

The  takes  is  generally  (as  by  RV.)  interpreted  to  mean  wins  : 
a  wise  man  wins  souls  ( =  persons)  by  his  wisdom,  which  is  under- 
stood to  be  morally  good.  But  elsewhere  in  OT.  the  last  expres- 
sion of  the  couplet  always  means  takes  away  (=  destroys)  lives, 
and  must  be  so  interpreted  here  ;  the  resultant  affirmation  is,  how- 
ever, impossible.  A  better  form  is  suggested  by  Grk.,  which  has  : 
from  the  fruit  of  righteousftess  gr'ows  a  tree  of  life,  but  the  lives  of 
the  lawless  are  taken  away  untimely,  in  which  the  word  untimely 
probably  represents  an  expression  containing  the  Heb.  term  ren- 
dered violence  by  RV.  (10^  al.),  and  we  may  read  : 

The  revenue  of  righteousness  is  a  tree  of  Hfe, 
But  rapine  destroys  men's  lives. 

*  See  A.  Griinfeld,  Stellung  der  Sklaven  bei  den  Juden,  etc. 


XI.  29-31  239 

Antithetic,  ternary.  F/uif  —  ^product,  revenue  (8^^);  rapine  in- 
volves the  idea  of  revenue  (or  wealth)  acquired  by  violence  (injus- 
tice). The  couplet  may  be  paraphrased  thus  :  the  wealth  which 
is  gained  by  rectitude  is  a  source  of  long  life  and  happiness,  while 
that  which  is  gained  by  injustice  brings  death;  cf.  3^^^^  11^^  13" 
15^^  21^  The  result  is  stated  in  general  terms  —  the  agencies  are 
divine  and  human.  Tree  of  life  is  a  famiHar  figure  of  speech, 
used  in  Pr.  of  wisdom  (3^'*),  of  fulfilled  desire  (13''),  of  healing 
speech  (15^),  and  here  of  the  product  of  integrity.  —  Another 
reading  of  the  couplet  is  proposed  by  Gratz : 

The  mouth  of  the  righteous  is  a  tree  of  life, 
But  the  wicked  harms  himself. 

This  gives  an  appropriate  sense  ;  for  the  first  line  cf.  10",  for  sec- 
ond fine  8^^  The  changes  required  in  the  Heb.  text  by  this 
emendation  are,  however,  somewhat  violent.  Ewald  and  others 
arrange  v.-'-'-  ^  in  the  order  :  v."'^-'^-  ^^-  '^"^^^  ®'^  but  nothing  is  thereby 
gained. 

31.  Certainty  of  retribution  for  sin. 

Behold,  the  righteous  will  be  punished  on  earth  — 
How  much  more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner ! 

Progressive  parallelism  (advance  from  the  less  to  the  greater, 
or  from  the  presence  to  the  absence  of  a  modifying  condition), 
ternary.  Instead  of  behold  we  may  render  if  (so  the  Grk.)  —  the 
sense  of  the  clause  is  not  thereby  changed.  The  verb  punish  is 
lit.  repay,  give  what  is  due  (for  one's  actions),  the  sense  of  puni- 
tive retribution  obviously  belonging  to  both  clauses.  The  basis 
of  the  thought  is  the  justice  of  the  divine  government :  even  the 
righteous  will  be  punished  for  evildoing,  then  of  course  the  wicked. 
The  expression  :  "  all  the  more  will  the  wicked  be  punished  "  may 
appear  to  involve  the  idea  that  the  divine  justice,  if  relaxed  at  all, 
will  be  relaxed  in  favor  of  the  righteous,  and  that,  if  it  be  main- 
tained in  spite  of  their  claims,  it  will  more  certainly  be  maintained 
in  the  case  of  the  wicked,  who  have  no  claims ;  the  meaning  of 
the  couplet  may  perhaps,  however,  be  understood  to  be  :  "  he 
who  sins  even  a  little  will  be  punished,  and  he  who  sins  much  will 
receive  greater  punishment."     It  appears  to  be  directed  against 


240  PROVERBS 

those  who  fancied  that  sin  might  somehow  escape  God's  notice ; 
cf.  Eccl.  8",  and,  contra,  Eccl.  3^^  9^  By  some  expositors  the 
verb  is  understood  in  first  cl.  as  =  rewarded,  in  second  cl.  as 
=^  punished,  but  this  gives  the  unsatisfactory  sense  that  God  will 
more  certainly  punish  the  wicked  than  reward  the  righteous.  Or, 
the  verse  is  thus  paraphrased  (Str.)  :  the  righteous  are  in  general 
rewarded,  though  with  real  or  apparent  exceptions,  but  the  wicked 
are  most  certainly  punished  —  an  interpretation  which  reads  into 
the  text  what  it  does  not  contain.  —  The  retribution  is  represented 
as  coming  from  God  (though  it  may  come  through  man). 
Wicked  and  siimer  are  synonymous  ;  the  terms  appear  to  be  sep- 
arate grammatical  subjects  (not  forming  an  hendiadys).  The 
righteous  are  not  perfect  men,  but  men  generally  obedient  to  God, 
though  capable  of  faUing  into  sin.  On  earth  does  not  express  a 
contrast  with  a  future  life,  but  merely  states  that  the  world  is  the 
scene  of  hfe  and  retribution ;  we  might  render  in  the  land,  as  in 
221.22^  The  reading  of  Grk.  (quoted  in  i  Pet.  4^*)  if  the  righteous 
is  scarcely  saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  sinner  appear  ?  may 
be  free  translation  of  our  Heb.,  the  retribution  inflicted  on  the 
righteous  being  taken  as  the  means  necessary  to  secure  their  final 
salvation,  which  is  thus  indicated  as  difficult ;  but  Grk.  probably 
had  a  different  Heb.  text  from  ours. 

27.  For  |§  C'p3''  Gratz  doubtfully  proposes  Pfji  finds,  which  occurs  in  313 
835  122  1 822.  this  is  not  graphically  hard,  and  gives  the  desired  sense.  On 
in.;'  and  t:'pa  see  notes  on  i^^  2*;  a'lT  is  frequently  used  of  inquiry  at  an 
oracle  (Gen.  25^2  Ez.  I4i<>),but  means  also  simply  j^fi  (Dt.  aa^).  —  28.  |§  Sisi; 
Ewald  '?ii\  —  1^  nSuD;  (5  avTiXa/x^avd/jievos,  =  n'?yD,  as  Partcp.  (Jag.)  or  b'/c 
(Ew.);  Bi.  reads  nSj'C  as  Subst.,  /I'd/ie ;  Ew.  nSvr,  a.s  =  immer  h'oher ;  Gr. 
D"^nNi,  as  aloe  trees.  None  of  these  readings  offer  decided  advantages  over 
1^.  —  29.  1^  13>';  (5,  periphrastically,  6  ytt??  <Tvvn-epi(pep6fj.efjios,  he  who  does  not 
act  humanely.  —  In  «  ^  has  a  doublet,  in  one  form  following  p?,  in  the  other 
(g,  in  both  cases  with  variations  —  an  indication  of  the  variety  of  sources  from 
which  our  present  S:  text  has  been  constructed;  here  it  is  probable  that  the 
pj  form  is  the  later.  —  30.  (5  e/c  KapTTOv  SiKaioffivqs  (pverai  divdpov  ^wijs,  an  inap- 
propriate figure  —  the  fruit  should  rather  come  from  the  tree;  in  pj  the  fruit 
(=  outcome)  is  the  tree,  a  mixed  but  not  impossible  metaphor.  |§  p"jX;  point 
p-ix,  after  <S.  For  ^  ns  Gratz  reads  13,  as  in  10",  which  is,  perhaps,  better.  — 
For  1^  np'^  (g  appears  to  have  read  np';'  or  npSj,  which  it  renders  freely  by 
dipaipovvTai  &wpoL,  are  untimely  taken  away,  and  its  S.wpoi  probably  represents 
DDH,  for  %  D3n  (see  lo^  132);   cf.  Frank.  —  &  follows  (g,  with  one  variation. 


XI.  3i-xn.  I  241 

—  For  1^  Don  nii-DJ  Gr.  proposes  DrJn  icbj,  as  in  S^^.  ^g  should  then  read  jjan 
for  npS  (cf.  lo^i).  This  offers  a  natural  contrast,  but  the  change  of  'S  to  ~i  is 
not  easy.  Read  Dcn  for  |tj  Don  (Frank.).  —  31.  In  place  of  ||J  yixa  (5  has 
/tx6Xts  (a  (ITT.  Xey.),  the  origin  of  which  is  doubtful.  (3  may  render  |tj  aSc^ 
paraphrastically  by  fiSXis  adi^erai,  or  fj.6\is  may  represent  a  separate  Heb. 
word,  as  d;'DD  (Or.),  or  v'^n2  (Bi.),  or  ynso  (Jag-);  ffu^erai  may  then  =  dSb^ 
taken  in  good  sense,  or  it  may  =  V'^'''%  or  (Held.)  oSc  (it  is  nowhere  else  the 
rendering  of  □S^"').  &  follows  <§,  having  jDnpS  for  /xdXts.  ©  appears  to  have 
been  influenced  by  S;  it  retains  J^  1*">X3,  but  (here  alone)  renders  aSir^  by 
\Dm2T:,  a  term  which  elsewhere  means  control  one's  self  (pflx),  or  come  into 
possession  of  C^nj),  but  here,  from  the  connection,  must  =  strengthen  one^s 
self,  groiv  strong  (and  in  **  it  has  :  but  the  wicked  and  the  sinners  vanish  from 
the  earth').  |^  and  (§  give  two  different  texts,  with  different  ideas;  we  cannot 
combine  them,  writing  a^r>  y'?!<3  (Bi.)  or  '1  !D>'D3  (Gr.),  for  ">  then  gives  no 
appropriate  sense  (we  get  a  good  sense,  however,  by  writing  oSd'').  Either 
text  is  possible;  that  of  |^  perhaps  accords  better  with  the  general  tone  of 
Proverbs.  In  *>  (!|  has  ttoO,  =  n^^x,  for  pj  •'D  r|N;  SC  assimilates  the  form  of  the 
clause  to  that  of  *.  IL  follows  ^.  Saadia  :  would  to  God  the  righteous  might 
be  at  peace  in  this  world,  tJien  how  the  wicked  and  the  sinner  I  Cf.  notes  of 
Hitzig,  Heidenheim,  Lagarde. 

XII.  1.   It  is  wise  to  desire  instruction.  —  Antithetic,  ternary. 
The  couplet  admits  of  several  translations.     It  may  be  rendered  : 

He  who  loves  knowledge  loves  instruction, 
But  the  stupid  man  hates  admonition. 

Here  the  man  is  defined  by  his  attitude  toward  wisdom,  —  he 
loves  it  or  he  is  insensible  to  it,  —  and  he  will  accordingly  seek  or 
reject  instruction.     Or,  reversing  subject  and  predicate,  we  may 

He  who  loves  instruction  loves  knowledge, 
And  he  who  hates  admonition  is  stupid. 

In  this  form  the  defining  point  is  the  man's  attitude  toward  in- 
struction, and  the  predicate  states  the  result :  in  one  case  he  gains 
(and  so  shows  that  he  loves)  knowledge ;  in  the  other  case  he  vir- 
tually declines  knowledge,  and  so  proves  himself  stolid  and  irra- 
tional. The  general  sense  is  the  same  in  these  two  translations, 
and  either  may  be  adopted  ;  but  a  more  natural  form  is  perhaps 
gained  by  varying  the  order  of  subject  and  predicate  in  the  two 
clauses,  and  reading  : 

He  who  loves  knowledge  loves  instruction. 
But  he  who  hates  admonition  is  stupid. 


242  PROVERBS 

The  terms  instruction  and  admonition  are  practically  synonymous  ; 
the  reference  is  to  moral  and  religious  teaching ;  see  notes  on 
i^-^^.  Stupid  (lit.  like  a  brute  animal,  incapable  of  recognizing 
what  is  reasonable)  is  here  likewise  an  ethical  term.  The  proverb 
may  allude  to  all  sorts  of  teaching  (by  parents,  friends,  priests, 
lawyers),  but  probably  contemplates  especially  the  schools  or  writ- 
ings of  sages,  in  which  were  given  rules  for  the  conduct  of  life. 

2,  3.   Contrast  in  fortunes  of  virtuous  and  vicious. 

2.  A  good  man  will  find  favor  with  Yahweh, 
A  wicked  man  he  will  condemn. 

3.  No  man  stands  by  wickedness, 

But  the  root  of  the  righteous  remains  unmoved. 

2.  Antithetic,  quaternary.  Good  is  here  used  in  the  most  gen- 
eral ethical  sense.  On  wicked  (ruaTtt,  wickedness,  wicked  devices) 
see  note  on  i"*.  The  word  means  reflection,  plan,  and  is  capable 
of  being  understood  in  a  good  or  in  a  bad  sense  ;  in  Pr.  1-9  it 
occurs  in  the  good  sense  only,  in  chs.  10-24  (it  is  not  found  in 
25-31)  in  the  bad  sense  only,  a  difference  of  use  which  accords 
with  the  view  of  difference  of  authorship  for  these  two  sections. 
In  the  general  sense  of  thought,  purpose  it  occurs  in  Jer.  23^°  30^'* 
51"  \\i  10*  Job  42^  Condetnn  is  a  forensic  X.&xts\,  =  pronounce 
guilty :  in  first  cl.  we  might  have  the  corresponding  verb  pro- 
nounce right,  instead  of  which  stands  the  equivalent  expression 
find  favor ;  see  notes  on  i^  2"^.  The  idea  of  the  verse  is  divine 
retribution  in  this  life.  —  3.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  thought, 
familiar  in  Pr.,  that  permanence  comes  only  through  goodness. 
The  result  is  no  doubt  conceived  as  effected  by  God,  who,  how- 
ever, may  employ  human  instrumentalities.  Stand  (or,  be  estab- 
lished) =  stand  firmly  fixed  in  a  position  of  earthly  prosperity. 
The  figure  is  varied  in  the  two  clauses. 

4.  Wives,  good  and  bad. 

A  good  wife  is  a  crown  to  her  husband, 

One  who  acts  badly  is  as  rottenness  in  his  bones. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  For  other  references  to  wives  see  11'^  19'* 
2i9-^3  (=  252^)  ^o'^  311"-"  BS.  f"  25"^*  26^- '•^<'- 22-2'  362^24  4019  Eccl. 


XII.   1-4  243 

'j^  9' ;  the  treatment  of  family  life  belongs  naturally  to  the  gnomic 
literature  both  by  the  character  and  by  the  date  of  the  latter. 
The  wife  of  first  cl.  is  described  in  the  Heb.  as  a  woman  oi power, 
capacity  (b^n),  a  term  which,  when  used  of  men,  expresses  the 
vigor  or  prowess   of  the  warrior  (Ju.  y\   etc.),  or  intellectual 
strength  (Ex.  14''),  or  physical  wealth  (Ru.  2^  Pr.  13-^  etc.).     Of 
women  it  is  used  only  four  times  in  OT.,  once  of  Ruth  (Ru.  3"), 
and,  in  Prov.,  here  and  31^°--' ;    in  ch.  31  it  describes  a  woman  of 
good,  vigorous  character,  especially  of  business  capacity,  and  in 
Ruth  it  might  be  rendered  irreproachable  — i\-\e  stress  may  be 
laid  on  general  capacity  or  on  moral  worth  ;    here,  probably,  both 
shades  of  meaning  are  included.     The  words  virtuous  and  capable 
are  too  narrow  — the  best  English   representative   of  the   Heb. 
term  is  good,  understood  as  including  probity  and  housewifely 
capacity.     Such  a  woman,  it  is  said,  is  her  husband's  crowti,  his 
glory  and  joy,  bringing  him  happiness  at  home  and  honor  abroad 
by  the  excellence  of  her  household  arrangements,  and  the  respect 
which  her  character  commands.     The  crozan  signifies  royal  honor ; 
see  4^  Lam.  5'^  Job  19^  Cant.  3".     In  contrast  with  her  is  the  wife 
who  acts  badly  (cf.  lo'^)  ;  bad  is  here  to  be  taken  as  the  opposite 
of  the  good  above  ;   such  a  woman  destroys  her  husband's  happi- 
ness and  power  as  rottetiness  {caries)   destroys  the  bo?us.     The 
bones  represent  the  substantial  framework  of  the  body  (see  14^°). 
—  Here  and  in  ch.  31  the  wife  appears  as  manager  of  the  eco- 
nomic aff-airs  of  the  household,  hke  the  lady  of  medieval  Europe. 
Though  she  is  not  spoken  of  as  the  intellectual  companion  of  her 
husband   or  as   the   educator  of  her   children,  it   need   not   be 
doubted  that  she  acted  in  both  these  capacities.     Her  teaching  is 
expressly  mentioned  in  6="  (cf  3i'')>  ^^^^  in  the  later  history  (Jo- 
sephus,  the  Talmud)  we  meet  with  not  a  few  Jewish  women  who, 
if  not  technically  "educated,"  were  capable  of  the  best  intellect- 
ual sympathy  with  their  fathers  and  husbands. 

5,  6.  Contrast  between  virtuous  and  vicious  in  designs  and 
words. 

5.  The  plans  of  the  righteous  are  just, 
The  designs  of  the  wicked  are  deceit. 

6.  The  words  of  the  wicked  lie  in  wait  for  blood, 
But  the  speech  of  the  upright  saves  []. 


244  PROVERBS 

5.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Plans  and  designs  are  synonyms  —  they 
are  not  contrasted  as  simple  and  not-simple  (De.),  and  are  not 
ethically  distinctive ;  the  first,  here  used  of  the  righteous,  is  used 
of  the  wicked  in  15^",  and  the  second  is  employed  in  a  good  sense 
in  i^  11";  they  mean  designs  in  general,  and  must  be  defined  by 
distinctive  predicates.  Just  is  lit.  justice.  The  statement  of  the 
verse  —  that  good  men  deal  fairly,  bad  men  unfairly  —  is  not  an 
identical  proposition,  but  is  equivalent  to  by  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them.  —  6.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  first  cl.  is  lit,:  the 
words  .  .  .  are  a  lying  in  wait,  etc.,  which  may  be  interpreted,  in 
accordance  with  i"  :  relate  to  lying  in  wait*  ;  but  it  is  better  to 
retain  the  lively  figure  of  the  text :  the  words  ( —  plans)  of  bad 
men  are  assassins  who  treacherously  lurk  for  their  victims.  Speech 
is  lit.  mouth.  —  In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  saves  them,  in  which 
the  them  (which  has  no  antecedent  in  first  cl.)  must  refer  to  the 
upright.  Such  a  reference,  however,  is  not  favored  by  the  paral- 
lehsm  :  the  wicked,  in  first  cl.,  attack  others,  and  the  upright,  in 
second  cl.,  should  save  others ;  good  men,  moreover,  are,  in  Pr., 
saved  not  by  their  words,  but  by  their  righteousness  (10^  ii*-^)  or 
by  God  (i6^-^  18^"  al.,  cf.  note  on  14''),  To  avoid  the  suspended 
the77i  Bickell  changes  the  blood  of  first  cl.  (Heb.  dam')  to  men  or 
mankind  (Heb.  adam)  ;  but  so  general  a  statement  ("the  wicked 
lie  in  wait  for  human  beings,  or  for  a  man  ")  is  not  probable ;  the 
wicked  rather  attack  the  innocent  (i").  It  is  simpler  to  omit  the 
them,  whereby  we  gain  for  the  couplet  the  sense  :  "  the  words 
(=  plans)  of  the  wicked  are  hurtful,  those  of  the  upright  helpful." 
—  The  reference  in  first  cl.  is  to  slanderous  talk,  accusations  to 
great  men,  false  testimony  in  courts  of  justice,  and  the  like ;  the 
second  cl.  refers  to  the  healing  power  of  just  and  kindly  speech. 

7.   Permanence  and  impermanence. 

The  wicked  are  overthrown  and  vanish, 
But  the  house  of  the  righteous  stands. 


*  Wildeboer  suggests  that  the  author  of  lU-io  had  our  verse  in  mind,  and  ex- 
panded its  thought.  This  is  possible,  and  would  agree  with  the  supposition  that 
chs.  1-9  are  later  than  chs.  10-22 ;  but  the  idea  may  well  have  been  a  common- 
place of  the  schools,  and  may  have  been  expressed  independently  by  different 
writers. 


XII.  5-9 


245 


Antithetic,  ternary.  The  same  thought  is  given  in  lo-.  Vamsh  is  ht 
Z. 0  f,  =  cease  fo. us  f;  the  sense  of  first  cl.  is  :  ^ke  ^uke^  shall 
ie  completely  and  finally  destroyed,  without  hope  of  restoration  hat 
is  by  judgment  of  God,  with  or  without  human  instrumentahty. 
The  verse  repeats  the  beUef  that  virtue  and  vice  are  fully  recom- 
pensed in  this  hfe.-The  first  cl.  may  be  rendered  :  overthrow  the 
licked  and  they  vanish  (so  the  Latin,  verte)      It  is  taken  by  some 

(Saad.  Ew.  Reuss)  to  mean:  "once  ^^^  ^^^^^  '""'ll^X 
that  is  they  have  no  power  to  recover  themselves.  Others  (as 
ztk  '  interpret :  "  turn  about  and  are  not,"  that  is,  ''  vamsh  m 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye."  These  renderings  are  possible,  and  may 
be  regarded  as  included  in  the  Heb.  words ;  but  a  simpler  and 
more  natural  antithesis  is  gained  by  the  translation  here  adopted. 

8.  Intelligence  commands  respect. 

A  man  is  commended  according  to  his  intelligence, 
A  wrongheaded  man  is  despised. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary),     '^'fl'^"'^;"^^^ 
of  sound  thought  and  judgment;   so  m  3'  (on  which  see  note) 
;,»  "6»  .9"  n'  Job  .7'  I  Sam.  2s\  and  cf.  the  correspondmg 
adi   (Partcp.)  in  io»  "  .4",  etc.     The  opposite  quaUty  ts  d,stor- 
tiln    wJsL  of  Mdlec,  (lit.  ./  heart),   incapacUy  to  thmk 
soundly     The  contrast  intended  is  not  of  learning  and  ignorance, 
or  of  philosophical  depth  and  shallowness,  but  of  ability  and  m- 
abil  ty  to  th,nk  justly  ht  common  matters  of  life     The  proverb  .s 
a  tribute  to  intellectual  clearness,  without  special  reference  .0  but 
doubtless  with  inclusion  of   the  mora,  and  ..h^^^^^^ 
The  Engl  sh  term  perverse  (RV.)   has  an  eiemeiu 
which  is  not  contained  in  the  Hebrew;   the  sense  o    the  latter  i 
better  expressed  by  our  wrongheaded,  taken  as  =  "  mcapable  of 
just,  discriminating  thought,  lacking  in  judgment,"  Lat.  excon. 

9.   Comfort  better  than  show.-The  present  Heb.  text  must  be 

rendered  :     ^^^^^^  ^^  .^  ^^  ^^^  5^  ^^^i^^ly  lo^,  yet  has  a  servant, 

Than  he  who  plays  the  great  man,  and  yet  lacks  bread. 
Antithetic  comparison,"ternary  (or,  ternary-binary).     Better  off  \^ 
Abetter.     Thit  the  term  low  (or,  lowly,  RV.  hghtly  esteemed^ 


246  PROVERBS 

refers  to  social  position  appears  from  the  connection,  and  from 
I  Sam.  18^^  Isa.  3^  (RV.  base).  The  proverb  does  not  commend 
the  social  middle  class  as  such  (De.),  but  simply  says  that  a  man 
of  small  social  importance,  if  he  be  in  comfortable  circumstances 
(this  is  implied  in  his  having  a  slave),  is  really  better  off  than  one 
who  tries  to  keep  up  a  certain  state,  while  he  lacks  the  necessaries 
of  life.  Flays  the  great  man  is  lit.  acts  as  if  he  were  (or,  pretends 
to  be)  ho7iorable  (or,  rich)  ;  cf  13^.  We  expect  the  man  of  the 
second  cl.  to  be  described  (in  contrast  with  the  low  of  first  cl.)  as 
being  really  of  high  rank,  not  as  merely  assuming  it.  But  the 
sage  seems  to  have  in  mind  a  man  of  petty  pride  of  rank,  who 
finds  his  pleasure  in  keeping  up  a  vain  show.  The  proverb  may 
be  a  popular  saying :  comfort  before  show ;  the  case  of  a  well- 
born man  struggling  honestly  and  openly  with  poverty  is  not  here 
considered.  —  Some  Anc.  Vrss.  and  some  modern  expositors 
(Schultens,  Hitz.  Ew.)  render  the  second  half  of  the  first  cl.  : 
and  is  a  servant  to  himself  (works  for  himself,  is  sufficient  unto 
himself ) ,  a  sense  which  may  be  obtained  by  a  slight  change  in 
the  Hebrew.  It  gets  rid  of  the  statement  (which  to  some  seems 
incongruous)  that  the  socially  unhonored  man  has  a  servant ;  but 
the  possession  of  a  servant,  by  no  means  improbable  for  a  man  in 
moderate  circumstances,*  may  well  be  put  as  an  indication  of 
comfort,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  expression  acts  as  servant 
to  himself  {is  his  own  servant,  works  for  hi?nself)  does  not  offer  a 
distinct  antithesis  to  the  lacks  bread  of  the  second  clause.  Frank- 
enberg,  rendering  :  it  is  better  when  one  is  despised  for  working 
his  field  than  when  one  plays,  etc.,  finds  in  the  proverb  proof  that 
manual  labor,  especially  agriculture,  was  looked  on  as  degrading. 
But  the  opposite  of  this  is  true  if  we  may  judge  from  the  respect 


*  At  Athens  the  price  of  slaves  varied  considerably,  but  it  was  possible  in  Xen- 
ophon's  time  {Me?n.  ii,  5,  2)  to  buy  a  slave  for  half  a  mina  (in  weight  about  ten 
dollars,  in  purchasing  power  from  five  to  ten  times  as  much).  The  possession  of 
only  one  slave  was  regarded  as  a  sign  of  great  poverty  (Plut.  Apophth.  i,  p.  696, 
Phoc.  19).  In  early  Israel  (Ex.  21^2)  the  value  of  a  slave  was  30  shekels  of  silver, 
=  about  18  dollars.  According  to  2  Mac.  SH  Nicanor  (in  the  second  century  B.C.) 
promised  to  sell  90  Jews  for  a  talent,  that  is,  at  the  rate  of  about  14  dollars  a  head. 
A  poor  man  might  thus  easily  buy  a  slave.  It  would  happen,  also,  that  a  man 
would  inherit  a  slave,  and,  though  reduced  in  circumstances,  would  then  manage 
to  keep  him. 


XII.  9-IO  247 

with  which  work  is  spoken  of  in  Pr.  (6'^"  lo'  al.)  and  in  later 
books,  as  Pirke  Aboth  i,  lo;  4,  i.  Ben-Sira,  as  sage  (BS.  38-^''^), 
looks  down  on  the  ploughman  and  the  handicraftsman  who  have 
no  time  for  the  contemplation  of  true  wisdom,  but  he  never 
speaks  of  work  as  socially  despicable.  —  Some  critics  (as  Kamp.) 
regard  the  expression  as  corrupt,  and  leave  it  untranslated.  —  A 
similar  proverb,  perhaps  a  modification  of  this,  is  found  in  BS. 
Io2«■2^ 

XII.  2.  J§  is  supported  in  general  by  the  Vrss.  (5  TrapaffiwirrjO-ffffeTai,  is 
prob.  not  from  iinn  (Jag.),  nor  (Lag.)  confluence  of  ivapa  du)  {—  niniD)  and 
riTT-qO-qcreTai  (=  i'^ni  Isa.  54''),  but  free  rendering  of  |ij  >wn\ — 3.  (B  oLvbjjLov, 
perh.  scribal  error  for  avoplas,  perh.  (Lag.)  — -jz'^.  —  4.  |^  rnbi'va;  (5  ev 
|i)X(y,  =  Y^i  (Jag.),  and  following  airoWvffLV,  Jag.  thinks,  represents  the  rest 
of  the  f§  word,  ip'c.  ^  =  (5;  C  =  (§,  with  transpositions.  |^  nrac;  %  qtii 
confusione  res  dignas  gerit.  —  P'or  f§  mp;?  Midr.  Tanch.  gives  niNijp,  citation 
from  memory.  —  6.  See  note  on  this  v.  above.  The  suff.  in  |§  o'^i''  is  given 
in  all  the  Vrss.,  but  is  better  omitted,  if  "^  be  retained,  so  as  to  avoid  the 
ambiguity  of  ^,  and  gain  the  general  form  of  statement  which  is  found  in  *. 

—  For  |§  Di  Bi.  reads  ms,  which  is  too  general  a  term  in  the  connection; 
Gr.  DDipn  (see  his  emendation  in  i"),  but  this  is  not  favored  by  the  Dttt'\ 
This  objection  lies  against  the  reading  acr*^  mx'  OVJ'"',  and  ||J  n2i  is  besides 
supported  by  the  'fl  of  ^  — 7.  |IJ  ibn  is  better  taken  as  Inf.  Abs.,  =  finite  vb. 
(Ew.,  §  328(5),  as  in  S^T;  fL  vcrte ;  (5  o5  khv  (Trpacprj.  Gr.,  referring  to  14II, 
adds  i'?nx,  but  this  is  unnecessary,  and  mars  the  rhythm.  —  8.  f^  SjU'  is  the 
specific  Hokma  term  for  intellectual  sobriety.  —  |^  ni^M  occurs  only  here  in 
Prov.  (and  elsewhere  only  i  Sam.  20^'') ;  the  common  terms  are  S^oj  and  ij^pj,'. 

—  (5  ffrd/jLa  crvveToO  eyKUfudi^'eTai  vtto  a,vdp6s,  =  'i;'x  '^7.11  hyz'  id*?;  S'?ni  in 
3  codd.  of  De' Rossi.  — P?  ra"-;  (@  fxvKTrjpl^eTai.  S'ST  =  p?.  For  p?  SSn> 
IL  has  ttosceiur,  and  for  a'?  nij;j  vanus  et  excors.  —  9.  Hithp.  of  n23  only  here 
and  Nah.  3^^;  in  Nah.  =  shoiu  i'/i'j'jf^  (really)  great,  or  perh.  7nake  a  sho-v  of 
greatness,  here  act  the  part  of  greatness.  —  %  =  '^.  <@  (followed  by  S)  S  5ou- 
Xeiiajf  eauT(?,  3L  sujfficiens  sibi,  pointing  i3  •,  and  perhaps  (though  not  neces- 
sarily) reading  ic-dj'?  instead  of  iS,  Bi.  ir;,  and  Gr.  -rm  (for  ploughing),  but 
1^  i3y  gives  a  satisfactory  sense. 

10.  Kindness  to  animals. 

The  righteous  regards  the  comfort  (even)  of  his  beast. 
But  the  heart  of  the  wicked  is  cruel. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  Righteous  is  sing,  in  the  Heb., 
wicked  plu.  —  rhetorical  variation.  The  first  cl.  reads  lit.  :  .  .  . 
knoius  the  soul  of  his  beast.      Kno^vs   here  =  gives  attention  to, 


248  PROVERBS 

comes  into  sympathetic  relations  tuifh  (cf.  Dt.  ■})'^  Job  9^^  35^^)- 
Soul  is  the  principle  of  life,  common,  according  to  OT.  usage,  to 
man  and  beast ;  it  here  signifies  not  the  mere  vitality  (it  is  not 
that  the  good  man  refrains  from  killing  his  beast),  but  the  sum- 
total  of  Hfe  as  experience  (cf.  Ru.  4'^  Job  10^)  ;  the  righteous 
man  provides  all  things  necessary  for  the  animal's  healthy  and 
happy  existence.  The  connection  (cl.  2)  indicates  that  the 
clause  is  of  the  nature  of  a  meiosis  :  the  good  man  is  careful  even 
of  the  lower  animals,  much  more,  then,  of  human  beings.  —  The 
second  cl.  is  universal  in  form  :  the  bad  man  is  cruel  to  all 
(beasts  and  men).  The  term  rendered  heart  above  usually 
means  compassion  (RV.  tender  mercies'),  and  is  here  so  under- 
stood by  many  Anc.  Vrss.  and  commentators  *  ;  the  oxymoron 
cruel  compassion  is  possible,  but  occurs  nowhere  else  in  OT.,  and 
seems  somewhat  forced.  In  several  passages  (Am.  i^^  i  K.  3-^, 
and  perhaps  Isa.  63^^)  the  Heb.  word  in  question  appears  to 
mean  bowels,  as  seat  of  emotion,  for  which  the  Eng.  equivalent  is 
heart,  and  this  sense  may  be  adopted  here  (with  De.  Reuss,  Str. 
Kamp.  Frank.)  as  the  more  probable.  —  Kindness  to  domestic 
animals  is  enjoined  in  the  Tora  (Ex.  20^''  23'^  Dt.  25*),  and  the 
divine  care  of  beasts  is  spoken  of  in  Jonah  (4^^)  and  in  various 
Psalms  (36«''»  104"  ^  cf.  148^")  ;  so  also  BS.  f\ 

11.   Steady  industry. 

He  who  tills  his  land  will  have  plenty  of  bread, 

But  he  who  follows  useless  pursuits  is  lacking  in  sense. 

Implicit  antithesis,  ternary.  Cf.  28^^,  BS.  20-*.  In  second  cl, 
the  direct  antithesis  would  be  expressed  by  will  lack  bread  (so 
nearly  in  28^^),  but  the  Masoretic  form  of  the  proverb,  perhaps 
for  the  sake  of  variety,  states  not  the  result,  but  the  quality  of 
mind ;  such  variations  of  apophthegms  were  doubtless  common 
with  the  sages.     Possibly,  however,  the  second  line  should  read  : 

He  who  follows  useless  pursuits  will  lack  bread. 

The  verse  does  not  give  special  praise  to  agriculture,  but  takes  it 
as  a  common  pursuit,  and  as  an  example  of  legitimate  and  profita- 

*  Aq.  Targ.  Saad.  Schult.  Ew.  Zock.  al. 


XII.  IO-I2  249 

ble  industry ;  the  sense  is  he  who  seriously  pursues  a  settled  occu- 
pation will  live  comfortably.  Tlie  antithesis  favors  the  sense  pur- 
suits in  second  cl.  rather  than  persons  (the  Heb.  gives  simply  the 
adj.  vain,  unprofitable^  ;  the  reference  seems  to  be  not  to  idleness 
or  slothfulness  (Lat.  otiuni),  but  to  purposeless,  unsteady  occupa- 
tions, perhaps  also  to  immoral  commercial  and  political  practices. 
Agriculture  was  followed  by  the  Palestinian  Jews  down  to  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans ;  see  Joseph.  Atit.  20,  9.  2  ; 
War,  7,  8.  3.  —  Grk.  (followed  by  Lat.)  here  adds  the  couplet: 

He  who  indulges  in  banquets  of  wine 

Will  leave  dishonor  (as  a  legacy)  to  his  strongholds, 

or,  as  Bickell  emends, 

Will  come  to  poverty  and  dishonor. 

The  idea  is  appropriate,  but  the  couplet  is  more  probably  an 
editorial  addition,  or  an  extract  from  some  current  collection  of 
proverbs,  than  part  of  the  original  Heb.  text. 

12.  Text  and  translation  are  doubtful.  The  Heb.  reads  :  The 
wicked  desires  the  net  of  evil  men,  but  the  root  of  the  righteous  pro- 
duces (lit.  gives) .  If  we  understand  the  net  of  first  cl.  to  be  that 
which  bad  men  spread  for  others,  the  result  is  an  identical  propo- 
sition :  the  wicked  desire  the  net  of  the  wicked ;  if  the  net  be  that 
in  which  bad  men  are  caught,  the  resulting  expression,  the  wicked 
desire  (that  is,  in  effect  by  their  evil  conduct  seek  and  gain)  the 
net  which  entraps  the  tuicked  is  hard  and  unnatural.  Others  * 
render  :  the  prey  of  evil  men,  taking  the  meaning  to  be  that  the 
wicked  seeks  (but  in  vain)  to  enrich  himself  by  unrighteous  gain  ; 
but,  even  if  we  accept  the  translation  prey,  spoil  (which  is  without 
authority),  the  statement  that  the  wicked  desires  the  spoil  of  the 
wicked  is  in  form  unnatural.  The  second  cl.  also  offers  a  diffi- 
culty :  the  verb  there  employed  is  used  of  a  tree  which  produces 
fruit,  but  never  of  the  root  of  a  tree  (RV.),  and  it  cannot  be  ren- 
dered shoots  forth,  that  is,  sends  forth  slender  stocks.  Moreover, 
in  all  these  interpretations  a  real  antithesis  is  lacking.  —  Grk.  has  : 
the  desires  of  the  wicked  are  evil,  but  the  roots  of  the  righteous  are 
firm,  which  gives  a  clear  sense,  accords  in  second  cl.  with  v.",  and 


*  Fleisch.  De.  Noyes,  Zock.  Str. 


250  PROVERBS 

may  be  got  from  the  present  Heb.  text  without  great  changes,  but 
it  gives  no  good  contrast  in  the  two  clauses.  Targ.,  in  second  cl., 
shall  be  established.  Syr. :  the  wicked  desires  to  do  evil  (a  change 
of  one  word  in  the  Heb.).  Lat. :  the  desire  of  the  wicked  is  a  de- 
fence of  the  worst  {thiiigs  or  persons^,  but  the  root  of  the  righteous 
will  grow.  —  Various  emendations  have  been  proposed.  Hitz. : 
the  refuge  of  the  wicked  is  clay,  but  the  root  of  the  righteous  en- 
dures (or,  is  enduring^  ;  this  form  of  second  cl.  is  adopted  by 
Ew.  Zock.  Kamp.  al.  Gratz  adopts  the  Lat.  defence.  Bi.  trans- 
forms the  couplet,  reading  :  the  pillars  of  the  wicked  totter,  but  the 
root  of  the  righteous  is  a  fortress.  Kamp.  omits  the  second  half 
of  first  cl.  {the  net  of  evil  men)  as  untranslatable.  Reuss  :  the 
wicked  hunts  for  misfortune,  which  he  offers  as  a  guess  ;  Frank. : 
wickedness  is  the  net  of  bad  men  (cf.  v.^^*),  that  is,  they  are  caught 
by  their  own  conduct.  Hitzig's  reading  of  second  cl.  (obtained 
by  a  slight  change  in  the  Heb.)  seems  probable  (cf.  v.'')  ;  in  first 
cl.  we  should  expect  (as  in  v.^")  some  figure  of  unsteadfastness 
(such  as  Bi.  tries  to  supply) ;  Frankenberg's  emendation  is  the 
least  open  to  objections,  but  it  does  not  supply  a  satisfactory  con- 
trast to  the  second  line.  The  two  lines  appear  to  belong  to 
different  couplets. 

13,  14.  The  effects  of  speech. 

13.  By  the  sin  of  his  hps  the  wicked  is  ensnared, 
But  the  righteous  escapes  from  trouble. 

14.  From  the  fruit  of  his  lips  comes  []  requital  to  a  man, 
And  what  his  hands  do  will  return  to  him. 

13.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf  10"  11^  18^  29*^.  Sin  (or  trans- 
gression) of  the  lips  is  any  wicked,  especially  malicious,  form  of 
speech,  which  brings  a  man  into  danger  by  making  enemies  or 
exposing  him  to  legal  penalties ;  the  reference  is  solely  to  the  evil 
consequences  of  a  man's  own  talk.  The  Heb.  of  first  cl.  reads  : 
in  the  sin  of  the  lips  is  a  snare  to  the  wicked.  The  form  given  by 
Grk.  (requiring  the  change  of  one  letter  of  the  Heb.)  is  better  : 
the  si?iner  falls  into  snares.  In  second  cl.  the  reference  is  to  the 
guarded  and  kindly  speech  of  the  righteous.  —  Grk.  adds  : 

He  whose  looks  are  gentle  will  be  pitied, 

But  he  who  encounters  (men)  in  the  gates  will  afflict  souls. 


XII.  12-15  251 

The  reference  in  second  cl.  seems  to  be  to  litigiousness.  De. 
suggests  the  emendation  :  will  afflict  himself.  The  origin  of  the 
couplet  is  doubtful.  —  14.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Cf.  13^  14"  18^". 
In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  :  from  the  fruit  of  a  man's  lips  he  is  sated 
(or  recompensed)  with  good ;  but  this  does  not  give  the  general 
statement  which  we  expect  as  parallel  to  second  cl.,  and  which  is 
given  in  18-";  the  omission  of  the  word  good  (which  may  easily 
have  been  inserted  by  a  scribe)  secures  the  symmetry  of  the 
couplet.  We  have  then  the  declaration  that  every  man  must  take  1 1  '^ 
the  consequences  of  his  words  and  deeds  (cf  14").  The  Heb.  I' 
has  in  the  two  clauses  two  synonymous  words  for  man  {ish  and 
adam).  The  marginal  Heb.  reading  of  second  line  is  :  and  what 
a  man's  hands  do  he  will  requite  him  for,  in  which  the  he  is  re- 
garded by  some  as  indefinite  subject  {one  will  requite),  by  others 
as  referring  to  God ;  but  neither  of  these  interpretations  is  sup- 
ported by  the  usage  of  the  Book.  For  the  form  of  the  text,  7-eturn, 
see  Obad.  15.  —  In  second  cl.  Grk.  (probably  incorrectly)  gets  a 
completer  parallelism  by  rendering  :  and  the  recompense  of  his  lips 
shall  be  given  him ;  the  variant  hands  is  better  than  lips.  Syr., 
with  slight  difference  of  order  from  Heb. :  a  good  man  shall  be 
satisfied,  etc.  —  If  the  reading  of  the  Heb.  be  retained,  'we  have 
a  progressive  parallehsm :  in  first  cl.  wise,  kindly,  righteous  speech 
brings  reward  ;  in  second  cl.  all  actions  bring  requital.  —  In  these 
two  couplets  the  immediate  reference  appears  to  be  to  social  law,  ^v^ 
not  to  the  fact  that  God  takes  cognizance  of  words  and  deeds. 

15,  16.  Two  marks  of  a  fool. 

15.  The  way  of  a  fool  seems  to  him  right, 
But  a  wise  man  listens  to  advice. 

16.  A  fool's  anger  is  displayed  on  the  spot, 
But  a  sensible  man  ignores  an  affront. 

15.  Implicit  antithesis,  ternary.  It  is  assumed  that  the  fool 
is  stupidly  self-confident  and  does  not  see  the  need  of  seeking 
advice.  The  reference,  appears  to  be  solely  to  intellectual  judg- 
ments, not  to  religious  opinions,  though  these  also  will  be  included 
in  the  broader  scope  of  the  proverb.  There  is  obviously  here  no 
condemnation  of  rational  confidence  in  well-considered  opinions. 


252  PROVERBS 

—  16.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  perhaps,  ternary).  Lit. : 
a  fool,  on  the  very  day  (on  which  he  receives  an  insult,  a  disgrace), 
his  anger  makes  itself  knozuji  (or,  displays  his  anger),  but  a  sensi- 
ble man  covers  up  insult.  The  proverb  condemns  thoughtless, 
passionate  resentment,  and  enjoins  calmness  and  deliberateness  in 
the  face  of  insult.  It  does  not  condemn  self-defence,  or  resent- 
ment directed  against  wrongdoing,  nor  approve  weakness,  or  cow- 
ardice, or  reticence  under  all  circumstances ;  it  does  not  relate 
to  forgiveness  of  injuries,  or  to  the  non-resistance  described  in 
Mt.  5"**"''";  it  simply  enjoins  calmness.  The  motive  indicated  is 
not  love  or  consideration  for  the  author  of  the  affront,  but  regard 
for  one's  own  interests,  or  for  the  general  well-being.  Quick 
resentment  is  treated  first  of  all  as  a  foolish  thing ;  doubtless  it 
was  also  considered  morally  wrong.  On  the  term  affront  see  note 
on  3^.     Cf.  the  sentiment  of  ii-. 

10.  J^  "iDm;  (5  (rirX(i7xi'o;  so  ^  {the  wicked,  their  botvels  are  closed); 
3L  viscera.  On  'i  as  =  bozuels  see  Ges.  Thes.,  and  cf.  am  wotnb  and  (in  Arab.) 
relationship  ;  whether  the  sense  mercy,  love  is  derived  from  a  stem  =  soft  (cf. 
Arab,  am),  or  is  connected  with  the  viscera  considered  as  the  seat  of  affection, 
is  uncertain. —  11.  pj  3S  non;  Gr.  nnS  'n;  Frank.:  urh  nDn\ — For  the  addi- 
tional couplet  in  (§  see  note  on  this  v.  above,  and  notes  of  Lag.  De.  Baumg. 
Bi.  — 12.  1^  ncn;  (@  eirt^u^ki,  =  men;  Si'iE^  =  ^;  '^  desideritini,  — -^-gn; 
Hitz.  -iph;  Bi.  noy.  Frank,  makes  onS  (end  of  v.")  out  of  |^  ^D^  aS  (v.i^-i-), 
regards  the  T  of  ^c^  as  misvvriting  of  n  (in  following  >'^'i),  and  attaching  the 
2  (of  3*7)  to  -\,  reads:  op  Tic  yz'-\z,  an  intelligible  sentence. — |^  D^;;i  iSD; 
@  omits  'c,  for  which  S  has  ^aJ;n':',  =  Heb.  n^r-ynS;  IL  muniynenttim  pessimo- 
rum  ;  Gr.  oi'ii'i  iXD;  Bi.  (omitting  'c)  DV^.  The  simplest  reading  of  "  is  that 
of  @,  but  it  is  not  connected  in  its  thought  with  ^■,  the  readings  of  Bi.  and 
Gr.  are  not  natural;  the  true  text  can  hardly  be  recovered. — In  ^  we  may 
read  irTix  for  ||J  jn-,  2C  a^inj,  (5  ev  oxvpu/xacriv  (so  Ew.  Gr.  Kamp.) ;  Bi.  IXD. 
Lag.  suggests  that  in>  may  be  corruption  of  the  ]^i  ((5  otvuv)  of  =.  For  other 
emendations  see  Nowack.  — 13.  Pj  cpb;  <§  e/jLTrlTrrei  els  7ra7i5as;  read  t'p'i 
of  ii'pp.  —  1^  NSM,  1 -|-  Impf,  rhetorical  sequence.  —  On  the  additional  couplet 
in  <3  see  Lag.  and  Bickell;  Bi.'s  -\yz'D  Nipi  (=  (S  6  5e  a-vpavruip  ev  irvXais)  is 
suspicious  {cr_y  in  the  gate  is  not  the  natural  antithesis  to  have  a  gentle  look), 
and  the  couplet,  while  it  looks  like  a  bad  translation  from  Hebrew,  is  of 
doubtful  origin.  —  14.  On  the  omission  of  ^a  see  note  on  this  v.  above.  — 
J§  ir'N;  (5  ^vxv  avSp6s,  in  which  1/'.  is  probably  interpretation  of  the  Grk. 
translator  (deleted  by  Lag.);  a  t:'3j  in  the  Heb.  would  mar  the  rhythm. — 
f^  n^;  (3^,  not  so  well,  xe'^^'"'"  (23.  157  X"Pw»'.  and  so  <S").  — 16.  pj  yii'; 
the  Vrss.  understand  the  form  as  Hifil.  —  J^  nrj;   Gr.  larj. 


I 


XII.  16-19  253 

17-19.   Good  and  bad  speech. 

17.  He  who  speaks  out  the  truth  affirms  justice, 
But  a  false  witness  (affirms)  injustice. 

18.  Some  men's  chatter  is  lil<e  sword-thrusts, 
But  the  tongue  of  the  wise  is  heahng. 

19.  The  lip  of  truth  endures  for  ever, 

But  the  lying  tongue  is  but  for  a  moment. 

17.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  reference  is  to  the  depositions  of 
witnesses  before  a  legal  tribunal.  The  verb  rendered  speaks  out 
ai:)pears  to  have  a  technical  legal  sense ;  it  is  used  of  giving  legal 
testimony  in  6'^  14^-^  19^'^;  the  first  line,  therefore,  may  be  trans- 
lated :  a  true  witness  affirms,  etc.  The  rendering  injustice  (the 
word  is  usually  translated  deceit,  as  in  11^)  is  supported  by  Job  15^^ 
\p  43^  55^*"^^  and  is  here  required  by  the  antithesis  \i  justice  be 
written  in  the  first  line ;  but  the  antithesis  may  also  be  truth  .  .  . 
falsehood.  Testimony  in  a  court  of  law,  says  the  proverb,  is 
public  affirmation  of  justice  and  order,  or  of  their  contraries ;  a 
false  witness  sins  against  the  fundamental  principle  of  social  life. 
The  prominence  given  in  the  Book  to  the  crime  of  perjury  indi- 
cates that  it  was  not  uncommon.  On  the  term  jtistice  see  notes  on 
jS  320.  — 18,  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit. :  there  is  one  who  chatters 
like  the  thrusts  of  a  sword,  but,  etc.  The  person  of  first  cl.  is 
impliedly  foolish.  The  verb  of  first  cl.  is  used  in  Lev.  5*  of  the 
unwary  utterance  in  which  a  man  unconsciously  binds  himself  by 
an  oath  (and  so  the  corresponding  noun  in  Nu.  30^'  **''  ^')  ;  in 
i/f  106''^  it  describes  a  hasty,  unadvised  speech  of  which  Moses 
was  once  guilty  (Nu.  20^°"^^)  ;  here  it  means  the  thoughtless  talk 
which,  taking  no  heed  of  what  is  due  to  men,  wounds  them  by 
unkindness  or  imprudence.  In  contrast  with  this  is  the  sympa- 
thetic and  wise  speech  which  heals  suffering  and  saves  from  dis- 
aster. The  proverb  breathes  a  fine  air  of  elevated  benevolent 
feeling,  the  reference  being  not  especially  to  testimony  in  court, 
but  to  general  relations  of  life.  —  19.  Antithetic,  ternary.  For  a 
moment  is  lit.  "  for  an  eye-wink."  The  affirmation  appears  to  be 
general :  truth,  supported  by  facts,  and  having  the  approval  of 
men  and  God,  is  permanent ;  falsehood,  unsupported  and  unap- 
proved, speedily  passes  away.  Similar  aphorisms  are  found  among 
other  peoples ;  Delitzsch  cites  (from  Dukes)  later  Heb.  proverbs, 


254  PROVERBS 

which,  however,  are  probably  based  on  this.  —  Grk.  (departing 
somewhat  from  our  Heb.  text)  understands  the  reference  to  be  to 
courts  of  law  :  true  lips  establish  testimony,  but  a  hasty  witness  has 
an  unjust  tongue,  a  reading  which  resembles  v.^^,  but  is  here  less 
probable  than  the  form  of  the  Hebrew. 

20-23.   Of  falsehood  and  folly.  —  Antithetic,  ternary. 

20.  Injustice  is  the  purpose  of  those  who  devise  evil, 
But  they  whose  plans  promote  well-being  are  <just.> 

21.  No  mischief  befalls  the  righteous, 
But  the  wicked  are  full  of  misfortune. 

22.  Lying  lips  are  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 
But  they  who  deal  truly  are  his  delight. 

23.  A  man  of  sense  keeps  back  his  knowledge, 
But  fools  proclaim  their  foolishness. 

20.  Lit. :  injustice  is  in  the  hearts  of  those  who,  etc.,  is  their 
purpose,  belongs  to  their  nature,  and  is  the  product  of  their  acts. 
On  i?2justice  (RV.  deceit)  see  note  on  v.^'';  lack  of  fairness  and 
truthfulness  is  injustice.  On  devise  evil  ^te  3-^  6"-^*  i  Sam.  23^  — 
The  second  cl.  in  the  Heb.  reads  :  but  to  the  counsellors  of  well- 
being  there  is  joy.  The  counsellors  of  well-being  are  those  whose 
designs  and  plans  are  such  as  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their 
fellow-beings  ;  for  this  sense,  plan  or  design,  see  Isa.  14^^.  But 
the  \.txvs\joy  of  second  cl.  stands  in  no  natural  connection  with  the 
injustice  or  deceit  of  first  cl.  This  latter  term  expresses  the  purpose 
of  wicked  men,  and  we  should  expect  the  corresponding  term  of 
second  cl.  to  express  the  purpose  of  good  men,  their  sincerity  and 
equity.  Such  is  the  contrast  given  in  v.^  of  this  chapter,  and 
obtainable  here  by  a  slight  change  of  the  Heb.,  with  the  reading  : 
to  the  designers  of  well-being  there  is  justice.  —  If  the  joy  of  the 
Heb.  be  retained,  the  couplet  must  be  interpreted  to  mean : 
wicked  men  design  injustice,  but  the  good  men,  purposing  good 
to  others,  will  be  rewarded  with  joy  or  happiness.  This  is  a 
possible  but  not  natural  and  easy  antithesis.  In  21^^  it  is  said  that 
the  practice  of  justice  is  joy  to  the  just  man,  but  the  omission  of 
the  subject  (the  practice  of  justice),  as  is  here  assumed,  would  be 
hard.  —  On  well-being  (RV.  peace),  =  "wholeness,  completeness 
of  being,"  see  note  on  3^.     Counsellors  of  well-being  =  benevolent, 


XII.  19-24  255 

righteous  men.  The  interpretation  oi  joy  as  that  which  the  good 
man  procures  for  others  is  hardly  allowed  by  the  Heb. ;  see  lo^® 
15^  21^',  where  the  joy  is  subjective,  and  similar  constructions  in 
jq16  j  j26  g^(,_  —  21,  The  doctrine  of  full  compensation  in  this  life. 
Mischief  axid  misfortune  (RV.  <??;//)  are  synonymous,  and  here  refer 
not  to  moral  depravation,  but  to  outward  suffering  as  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  by  God.  On  mischief  as  =  ftiisfortune  see  22^ 
Job  5*^  21^^;  on  misfortune  see  notes  on  3^"  6^'''*  11-^  13"  14'^  16* 
31^^.  —  Grk.  Targ.  Syr.  give  a  different  idea  : 

No  injustice  is  pleasing  to  the  righteous, 
But  the  ungodly  are  (or,  will  be)  full  of  evil. 

This  conception  (representing  a  somewhat  different  Heb.  text 
from  ours)  is  appropriate,  and  may  be  the  original  form  of  the 
couplet.  —  22.  The  same  general  thought  is  found  in  lo^^-^^  12^^ 
13^  16'^  20-^,  and  the  same  predicates  in  11^''.  On  abomination 
see  note  on  3^^  —  23.  Wise  reticence  and  foolish  blabbing.  Keeps 
(or  holds)  back  (lit.  conceals)  —  "  holds  in  reserve,  is  not  forward 
to  display."  The  second  cl.  is  lit. :  the  heart  (=  mind,  nature) 
of  fools  proclaims,  etc.  The  verse  is  an  aphorism  of  prudence, 
sagacity,  the  quality  to  which  Proverbs  gives  such  prominence. 
The  fool  rushes  in,  displays  his  folly,  is  despised  and  gets  into 
trouble  ;  the  man  of  common  sense  is  cautious,  reserved.  The  allu- 
sion is  to  circumstances  which  demand  caution ;  outspokenness 
under  certain  conditions  is  approved  in  such  passages  as  15^.  But 
the  Book  reflects  a  society  (large  cities  and  arbitrary  government) 
in  which  silence  is  golden.  —  For  keeps  back  Gratz  proposes  to 
read  utters,  but  this  gives  up  the  striking  antithesis  of  the  Maso- 
retic  Hebrew  text,  which  is  supported  by  i  "f-  ^  and  other  proverbs. 

24.  Industry  brings  success. 

The  hand  of  the  diligent  will  bear  rule, 
But  the  slothful  will  be  tributary. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  Praise  of  industry  is 
found  in  10*  12-^  13^  19'^  21^,  and  satire  on  sloth  in  6^"  24^""'^^ 
While  the  idea  is  common  to  all  times  and  peoples,  this  form  of 
the  apophthegm  is  suggested  by  political  relations  —  it  is  learned 
rather  than  popular :  a  vigorous  nation  rules  over  its  neighbors, 


256  PROVERBS 

a  feeble  nation  pays  tribute ;  an  industrious  man  attains  wealth, 
high  position,  influence,  power  (22^),  a  slothful  man  loses  his 
wealth  and  becomes  dependent  (11-^).  Slothful '\%  lit.  slothful- 
ness.  For  tributary  (=  ufider  tribute)  see  Ju.  i'^°  i  K.  4^  Lam.  i^ 
Isa.  31^  —  The  couplet  may  be  more  tersely  rendered  : 

The  diligent  bear  rule, 
The  slothful  are  underlings. 

25.  Power  of  sympathy. 

Anxiety  in  a  man's  mind  bows  it  down, 
But  a  kind  word  makes  it  glad. 

Implicit  or  progressive  antithesis,  ternary  :  a  kind  word  dispels 
anxiety  and  makes  glad.  Instead  of  kind  (lit.  good)  ivord  Grk. 
has  good  news,  but  the  antithesis  rather  points  to  friendly,  sympa- 
thetic words. 

17.  pj  HQ",  Hif.  (without  subject  expressed),  for  which  Lag.  (p.  vii)  pro- 
poses no'',  as  in  -^  2j^^;  De.  (here  and  on  6^^)  defends  |^,  but  the  construc- 
tion is  hard,  and  Lag.'s  reading  seems  preferable;  see  notes  on  6^^  14*.  De, 
remarks  that  elsewhere  in  Pr.  ">  stands  with  D3rD  (he  should  except  29^) ;  but 
this  may  be  accidental.  —  <3  ■  eTridetKuvfji^i'Tjv  irtcmv  iirayyiWei  diKaios;  in  id. 
may  perhaps  (Jag.)  represent  a  form  of  npn,  taken  as  =  affirm  (in  a  court  of 
justice),  though  elsewhere  in  Pr.  (exc.  19^(2)  iyKaXQv)  'r\  is  rendered  by  eKKaleiv; 
Lag.'s  suggestion,  r\:i\  is  not  probable,  since  this  vb.  is  regularly  represented 
by  iXiyxetv  (cf.,  however,  eX.  a^^es^  and  e-rrid.  demonstrate,  prove,  in  a  court 
of  law).  — 18.  ||J  .TJ3  («<a3),  to  speak  thoughtlessly  (understood  by  (5<S2C  as 
=  simply  speak)  may  be  mimetic  (hardly  connected  historically  with  /Sar- 
To\oyetv);  GIL  render  freely  promise  (according  to  Lag.  they  read  naa). 
—  (§^  /idxatpat;  read,  with  H-P  103  al.,  fiaxaipg.,  or  insert  ws,  with  68. — 
19.  |§  n>'S  I'm;  (5  KaropOoi  fiaprvpiav,  =  iv'^  p-\  (Jag.),  the  h  being  taken 
(in  Aram,  fashion)  as  introducing  the  object,  or  perhaps  the  h  had  fallen  out; 
in  b  also  the  ly  was  read  improperly  as  np. — IL  in  *  =  |^,  in  •>  =  (g;  ^  in  * 
free,  in  ^  follows  (g;  3C  in  ^^  =  ||^,  in  *>  follows  (&.  (5's  rendering  of  ^  is  thus 
strongly  supported,  but  ||J  is  favored  by  the  antithesis.  The  form  nyijns  is 
commonly  explained  as  i  pers.  sing.  Hif.  Impf.,  but  it  is  a  noun,  sometimes 
(Jer.  49!^  50**)  used  adverbially;  it  appears  to  be  an  Inf.  of  Aram,  form  (less 
probably  =  yjiN,  from  y_n,  with  n  prosthetic).  — 20.  |^  tinn,  in  the  sense  of 
mental  construction,  is  a  Hokma  term  (329  6i^-  ^^  14^-) ;  but  see  also  i  Sam.  23^ 
Hos.  loi3  Job  4^.  — Note  assonance  in  nniD,  nnci:';  for  the  latter  term  Gr.  pro- 
poses njpx;  it  is  better  to  read  \::i^vr::.  —  (g  l3ov\6p.evoi;  read  ^ov\ev6p.evoL,  with 
^Hmarg.  23(Lag.).  —  21.  p?  Hj.s^;  @  (and  SO  SST)  d/3^(j-et,  =  HiN:,  a  not  improb- 
able reading.  —  22.  pj  ■'•.:';•;  Gr.  suggests  ]Z'h\  as  parallel  to  Tflr,  but  the  varia- 


XII.  24-26  257 

tion  of  ^  is  natural  and  effective.  —  23.  For  ^  no j,  xip'',  nSw  (5  has  dp6vos 
(ndd),  ffwavT-qcrerai  (from  mp),  dpaTs  (•"''^n)>  ^^^  niisreadings.  —  3C^,  paraphras- 
ing, xnj,'Ti  ■'jND.  —  5'  in  "  =  ®,  in  '^  apparently  =  |^,  rendering  nVis*  by  xntt^^; 
cf.  Pinkuss'  note. — 5L  =  |^. — 24.  The  adj.  I'ln,  in  sense  of  diligent,  only  in 
Pr.  (cf.  the  vb.  in  2  Sam.  s''^^),  elsewhere  (Isa.  41^^)  sharp ;  @  eKXeKrQv,  free 
rendering,  or  (Baumg.)  connected  with  'n  />ure  gold ;  cf  Job  37^^('''^  where 
ckX.  represents  nj,  taken  by  @  as  one  word,  and  connected  with  n2  cJiosen, 
brilliant,  and  Pr.  122''  where  Kadap6s  = 'n.  —  25.  (5  renders  freely:  (po^epbs 
X670S  =  njNi;  rapdaaei  =  nnE*;;;  8iKaiov  is  added  to  tr'x  as  interpretation; 
dyyeXia  =  n2T  (it  is  unnecessary  to  suppose,  with  Gr.,  that  (3  read  mra). 
1^  is  reproduced  substantially  by  SSTIL,  and  ^  by  0;  but  Si®  give  the  0oj3.  and 
rap.  of  (§,  which,  here  as  elsewhere,  appears  to  have  influenced  these  Vrss. 

26.  A  satisfactory  translation  of  this  couplet  can  hardly  be 
given.  The  second  cL,  //le  ivay  of  the  wicked  misleads  them  (or, 
leads  them  to  destructioii)  is  intelligible,  though  in  form  somewhat 
strange,  A  man's  way  (common  metaphor  for  conduct,  manner 
of  life)  is  described  in  OT.  as  easy  or  hard,  or  as  leading  to  hap- 
piness or  to  misfortune,  or  it  is  said  that  men  go  astray  or  are  led 
astray  (by  God  or  man)  in  their  way,  but  it  is  never  elsewhere 
said  that  the  way  itself  causes  men  to  wander;  see  i^''""^  2'-'-"  3^"^ 
4-"  8^  13^^  14^^  15^^  al. ;  we  should  perhaps  read  :  the  way  of  the 
wicked  is  error,  or  the  ivicked  goes  astray  in  his  7i>ay.  —  In  con- 
trast with  this  we  expect  in  first  cl.  some  such  statement  as  the 
path  of  the  righteous  is  straight  (cf.  15^^),  or  the  righteous  departs 
from  evil  (cf.  16^''),  but  the  text  offers  no  such  thought.  The 
Heb.,  as  it  stands,  must  be  rendered  :  the  righteous  searches  out 
(=  explores,  studies)  his  friend,  which  here  yields  no  satisfactory 
sense.  A  change  in  the  Heb.  preposition  gives  .  .  .  explores  (the 
way)  for  his  friend  (or,  neighbor),  which  is  hardly  apposite  ;  and 
the  same  remark  holds  of  Ewald's  translation  (adopted,  appar- 
ently, by  RV.)  .  .  .  is  a  guide  to  .  .  .,  in  which,  moreover,  the 
rendering  ^/^/^(?  is  unwarranted.  — The  Anc.  Vrss.  give  no  material 
help.  Grk.  :  a  fust  arbiter  will  be  his  own  friend,  perhaps  cor- 
rupt for  the  just  is  his  own  friend,  or  the  just  man  kiiotas  his 
frie?td;  Aq.  :  he  who  makes  his  neighbor  rich  (lit.  to  abound)  is 
just  (or  righteous);  Targ.  (followed  by  Saad.  Rashi):  the  righteous 
is  better  than  his  neighbor;  Syr.  :  the  righteous  gives  his  friend 
good  counsel  (=  .  .  .  is  a  guide  to  .  .  .)  ;  Lat.  :  he  %uho  ignores 
loss  for  his  friend's  sake  is  just.  —  Most  modern  expositors  (fol- 


258  PROVERBS 

lowing  Doderlein)  prefer  to  change  the  vowels  of  one  word  and 
render  :  the  righteous  searches  out  his  pastur-e,  that  is,  superior  to 
sinful  desire,  seeks  (and  finds)  moral  and  religious  nourishment  * 
—  a  figure  taken  from  pastoral  life  in  which  good  pasturage  stands 
for  well-being  and  happiness  (Job  12^*).  But  the  expression,  used 
appropriately  of  the  wild  ox  (Job  39*),  is  never  elsewhere  em- 
ployed of  man  (not  in  Ez.  34^'*^^),  and  is  somewhat  strange  and 
forced.  The  verb  of  the  clause  is  suspicious ;  it  is  used  in  the 
earlier  literature  of  the  selection  of  a  camping-ground  (Dt.  i^ 
Nu.  10''^)  or  of  a  country,  for  example,  by  Yahweh  (Ez,  20®),  of 
the  investigation  of  Canaan  by  the  spies  (Nu.  13^,  and  frequently 
in  Nu.  13.  14),  perhaps  of  a  specifically  military  reconnoissance 
(Ju.  \^,  but  the  text  is  doubtful),  later  of  reflection  (Nu,  15^^) 
and  intellectual  investigation  (Eccl.  i'^)  ;  it  does  not  seem  to  be 
appropriate  here.  —  The  simplest  emendation  or  interpretation  is 
that  of  Targ,,  followed  by  AV. :  the  righteous  is  more  excellent 
(marg.  abundant^  than  his  neighbor,  but  this  is  neither  apposite  in 
itself,  nor  related  to  second  cl.  We  can  only  surmise,  from  com- 
parison of  14^^  16"  21^^,  that  the  general  sense  of  the  couplet  is : 
the  righteous  departs  from  evil,  but  the  wicked  strays  from  the 
{right)  way.  The  two  lines  may  be,  however,  wholly  unconnected 
with  each  other. 

27.  The  two  clauses  are  unrelated  to  each  other ;  there  appears 
to  be  a  displacement  —  each  clause  has  lost  its  parallel.  The  first 
may  read  :  the  slothful  man  (lit.  slothfulness,  —  the  man  of  sloth- 
fulness)  does  not  hunt  (or,  rouse,  or,  roast)  his  gatne  —  metaphor 
taken  from  hunting-life  ;  the  meaning  of  the  verb  is  doubtful,  but 
the  general  sense  appears  to  be  that  the  slothful  man  is  too  lazy  to 
provide  food  for  himself,  and  must  consequently  suffer ;  Kamp. 
regards  it  as  too  corrupt  for  translation.  —  The  second  cl.  should 
express  the  idea  that  the  diligent  man  does  make  provision  for 
himself,  but  this  meaning  cannot  be  got  from  the  present  text. 
The  following  are  some  of  the  translations  which  have  been  pro- 
posed. Rashi  (obtained,  however,  by  an  inversion)  :  the  sub- 
stance of  an  industrious  fnan  is  valuable  (and  so  AV)  ;  Qamhi, 
Schult.  (followed  by  De.  Reuss,  Now.   RV.  marg.  Str.  Kamp.)  : 

*  So  Hitz,  Ew.  De.  Bi.  Str.  Kamp. 


XII.  26-28 


259 


a  valuable  possession  (wealth,  substance)  of  a  man  is  diligence 
(or,  to  be  dilige?it),  but  the  last  word  is  the  adj.  diligent,  and  can- 
not be  rendered  diligence ;  Berth.  Ew.  :  a  precious  treasure  of 
(^=  to)  a  man  is  one  who  is  diligent,  that  is,  an  industrious  servant 
—  an  allowable  rendering  of  the  Heb.,  but  an  inappropriate  idea ; 
the  intention  of  the  clause  is  to  praise  the  diligent  man  for  his 
value  not  to  others  but  to  himself.  —  Grk.  (and  so  Syr.)  changes 
the  order  of  the  words  and  reads  :  a  precious  possession  is  a  pure 
man,  which  order  is  adopted  by  Umbreit,  Bi.  and  others,  substi- 
tuting diligent  for  pure ;  Targ.  :  the  substance  (wealth)  of  man  is 
precious  gold,  and  Latin  :  ...  is  the  price  of  gold.  — RV.  (and  so 
Noyes)  inserts  a  preposition  :  the  precious  substance  of  men  is  to  the 
diligent.  If,  in  addition  to  this  insertion,  we  transpose  two  words, 
we  have  the  simple  reading  :  the  diligent  man  possesses  (or,  gains) 
wealth  (lit.  there  is  valuable  property  to  the,  etc.),  a  familiar  idea 
in  Prov.,  but  not  obviously  connected  with  first  cl.  Cf.  lo*  12^* 
15^^  19^^  20*  al. 

28.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  first  cl.  reads  :  iti  the  path  of 
righteousness  is  life  —  the  doctrine,  abundantly  dwelt  on  in  Prov., 
that  goodness  insures  a  long  and  happy  life ;  see  notes  on  3^  8^ 
14^^  The  second  cl.,  in  its  present  form,  is  untranslatable  {the 
way  of  its  path  —  not  death,  in  which  not  is  the  imperative  neg., 
and  can  quahfy  only  a  verb).  Saad.  Schult.  De.,  mistranslating 
the  negative  :  the  way  of  its  path  is  i?nmortality  (  =  not  death)  ; 
RV.  (repeating  AV.),  adopting  this  mistranslation,  inserting  a 
preposition  (without  italicizing  it),  and  writing  way  of  path  as  one 
word,  renders  :  in  the  pathway  thereof  there  is  no  death.  The 
definition  of  zvay  by  its  synonym  path  is  unexampled  in  Prov., 
and  the  resulting  second  cl.  is  a  simple  repetition  of  first  cl.  The 
form  of  the  negative  here  employed  is  used  only  in  voluntative 
sentences,  and,  if  there  were  a  verb,  we  might  render  :  and  let  not 
the  way  of  its  path  be  death,  an  obviously  impossible  form  of  state- 
ment. The  Anc.  Vrss.  and  some  Heb.  MSS.  and  printed  edd. 
have  to  instead  of  the  negative  (the  difference  involves  merely 
the  change  of  a  vowel),  and  the  clause  should  no  doubt  read: 
but  the  7vay  of  ivickedness  leads  to  death,  or  some  equivalent  ex- 
pression (so  most  modern  critics)  —  the  idea  that  the  bad  man 


26o  PROVERBS 

will  be  cut  off  prematurely,  or  die  some  unhappy  death.     Cf.  2^^-^* 
^18.19  ^5  y27  jji9  j^i2  j ^9^  ^j^^j^  f-Qj.  ^j^g  insertioii  of  the  verb  leads, 

see  14- 


,23 


26.  "^  is  reproduced  by  ©SSTIL,  but  can  hardly  be  correct;  fn  cannot 
be  subject  of  Hif.  of  n;?n.  —  J^  ^^•>  gives  no  good  sense  whether  pointed  as 
adj.  or  as  Hif.  of  in.  The  text  is  hardly  recoverable;  the  Vrss.  seem  to  have 
had  |§.  We  might  read:  pis  n;!-\D  ipi  (cf.  1 61'^),  but  there  vv^ill  then  be  no 
distinct  contrast  of  expression  between  ^  and  ^.  See  Lag.  Baumg.  Pinkuss, 
and  note  on  this  v.  above.  —  27.  The  Vrss.  in  general  support  ||J,  though,  in 
some  cases,  with  inversions  (see  note  on  this  v.  above).  J^  Y~^p;  &  (and  so  S>) 
Ka.6a.p6s;  STIL  gold.  Gr.  ipi  Y'^'^'^-  Read  in  *»  'n  dinS;  ipi  jh  occurs  in  i^^  24*. 
The  insertion  of  a^^<  between  the  two  words  is  possible,  but  here  hard.  — 
|§  inn  is  taken  by  Rashi,  Qamhi  al.  to  mean  roast,  —  burn,  as  in  Aram. 
(Dan.  3^''),  and  cf.  Arab,  pin;  Schult.  and  others  compare  Arab,  fin  move 
(intrans.);  '^sz.'z.A.  meet,  encounter  {^•vi  III.);  see  Ges.  7y^^J■.,  BDB,  De.;  the 
word  is  perhaps  corrupt.  See  De'  Rossi.  —  28.  In  ^  for  |^  '^n  the  Vrss.  have 
Sx;  and  for  this  reading  in  MSS.  and  printed  edd.  see  De'  Rossi,  B-D,  Gins- 
burg.  1^  n^nj;  (5  fivqaiKaKuii'  revengeful ;  ^  JJPDN  wicked ;  3C  S':n2X,  scribal 
error  for  '3N;  IL  devium,  possibly  for  n^njD  (Baumg.).  Some  word,  standing 
in  contrast  with  T\p-\-i,  must  probably  be  substituted  for  njnj.  Levy,  Chald. 
Wbch.,  suggests  that  (5  read  3ynj,  but  this  is  not  probable;  Jag.  naiD;  Buxt., 
Anticrit,  717,  thinks  ixvtja.  an  insertion  of  the  Grk.  translator;  Lag.  prefers, 
wi^h  161  marg.,  6  5e  fjLVTjcriKaKQv ;   Bi.  map  (see  21^'*). 

XIII.  1.    Our  Heb.  text  reads  : 

A  wise  son  his  father's  instruction, 
But  a  scoffer  listens  not  to  rebuke. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  first  cl.,  if  our  Heb.  text  be  retained,  a 
verb,  =  /imrs  or  regards,  should,  from  the  parallelism,  probably 
be  inserted  (so  Targ.  RV.)  ;  Kamp.,  instead  of  /it's  father^ s,  reads 
loves  (see  12^,  where,  however,  the  verb  in  second  cl.  is  hates)  ; 
Rashi  inserts  seeks  and  loves ;  Saad.  accepts ;  Schult. :  one  is  (or, 
becomes)  a  tvise  son  (when)  instructed  by  one''s  father;  Lat.  (fol- 
lowed by  De.  Now.  Str.)  :  a  wise  son  is  (=  is  the  product  of) 
his  father's  instruction,  which  is  a  hard  and  improbable  construc- 
tion. The  verb,  by  scribal  corruption,  has  disappeared  from  the 
Hebrew ;  probably  we  should  read  :  a  wise  son  heeds  (or,  loves) 
instruction.  —  On  first  cl.  see  notes  on  2^  3^  4^;  on  instruction  see 
note  on  i^,  and  cf.  i3'^'  ^^ ;  on  scoffer  see  note  on  i" ;  rebuke  occurs 
13*  17^*"  Eccl.  7*,  etc.  —  In  second  cl.  we  might  txi^tct  foolish  son, 


XII.  28-XIII.  2  261 

as  in  I5^  but  scoffer  (which  occurs  in  9'  as  antithesis  to  wise)  is  a 
more  vigorous  synonym  oi  fool.  The  Grk.,  assimilating  the  two 
clauses,  reads  (its  destroyed  being  corrected  to  rebuked)  : 

A  wise  son  is  obedient  to  his  father, 
But  a  disobedient  son  will  be  rebuked, 

to  which,  however,  the  Hebrew  form  is  to  be  preferred.  —  The 
proverb  lays  stress  on  teachableness ;  the  scoffer,  out  of  badness 
of  heart,  refuses  instruction.  Whether  or  not  father  be  retained 
in  the  text,  the  reference  is  especially  to  young  men. 

2.   The  outcome  of   conduct.  — The  Heb.  is  probably  to  be 
translated  : 

From  the  fruit  of  his  mouth  a  man  enjoys  (lit.  eats)  good, 
But  the  desire  of  the  wicked  is  violence. 

So  the  couplet  is  rendered  by  many  expositors  *  ;  others  t  supply 
in  second  cl.  the  verb  of  first  cl. :  the  appetite  (lit.  sotil)  .  .  .  feeds 
on  violence,  but  appetite  in  OT.,  though  it  desires  or  loathes,  is 
full  or  empty,  is  never  said  to  eat.  The  violence  may  be  that 
done  to  others  (which  is  the  natural  interpretation),  or  (as  first 
cl.  suggests)  that  which  rebounds  on  the  bad  man  ;  but  in  this 
last  case  the  expression  (="  the  appetite  of  the  wicked  for 
wrongdoing  really  brings  violence  on  their  own  heads")  is  round- 
about and  hard.  — The  first  cl.  is  substantially  identical  with  i2>^% 
in  which,  from  the  parallelism,  we  should  probably  omit  the  good 
(and  so  Reuss  here)  ;  but  here  the  antithesis  demands  its  reten- 
tion.—  The  form  of  the  Heb.  couplet  is  unsatisfactory:  the  ex- 
pressions *'  a  man's  words  bring  him  good  "  and  "  the  desire  of 
bad  men  is  for  violence"  stand  in  no  natural  relation  to  each 
other.  Grk. :  the  good  man  eats  of  the  frtdts  of  righteousness,  but 
the  souls  of  the  wicked  perish  untitnely ;  Syr.  :  .  .  .  perish;  Targ. : 
.  .  .  are  snatched  away ;  Gratz  (after  S'**)  renders  second  cl. :  the 
faithless  do  harm  to  themselves.  We  seem  to  have  here  a  disloca- 
tion—  the  two  clauses  do  not  belong  together.  The  first  cl. 
should  perhaps  be  assimilated  to  the  corrected  form  of  1 2",  and 
the  second  cl.  might  then  be  retained,  with  the  sense  that  bad 
men  desire  to  act  violently  (that  is,   to  gain  wealth  by  unjust 

*  Lat.  Saad.  Rashi,  De.  Zock.  Str.  Kamp.  t  Schult.  Berth.  Ew.  RV. 


262  PROVERBS 

means).  An  antithesis  is  gained  by  adopting  the  Grk.  reading, 
or  by  rendering  :  a  good  man  enjoys  the  {good)  fruit  of  his  mouth, 
but  (or,  ajid)  the  wicked  harm  themselves.  On  wicked  {ox,  faith- 
less) see  note  on  2^-,  and  on  violence  note  on  3^^ ;  cf.  also  notes 
on  10"  "  12"  26^ 

3.  Speech  must  be  cautious. 

He  who  guards  his  mouth  preserves  his  life, 
He  who  opens  wide  his  lips  —  it  is  ruin  to  him. 

Exact  antithesis,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Warning 
against  incautious  speech,  as  in  10^"  17-^  The  warning  is  always 
in  place,  even  in  everyday  affairs,  but  is  especially  appropriate 
under  a  despotic  government  or  in  any  ill-regulated  society  (such 
as  abounded  under  the  Persian  and  Grk.  governments),  where  an 
imprudent  word  may  cost  a  man  his  hfe.  The  reference  is  obvi- 
ously to  the  physical  life,  not  to  the  soul  (as  the  Heb.  term  may 
sometimes  be  rendered)  as  the  seat  of  moral  and  religious  expe- 
rience.    Cf.  BS.  9^^,  and  the  Syr.  Menander,  p.  70, 1.  12. 

4.  Sloth  and  industry. 

The  slothful  desires  and  has  not, 
The  diligent  is  richly  supplied. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Contrast  of  results  of  industry  and  idleness. 
Lit.  the  soul  of  the  slothful  and  the  soul  of  the  diligent,  in  which 
soul  is  the  physical  principle  of  life,  =  desire,  appetite.  Richly 
supplied  is  lit.  made  fat  (11-^  15="^  28^  Dt.  31^"  i/'  23')  ;  fatness, 
originally  the  sign  of  animal  and  vegetable  health  and  vigor,  is 
used  as  general  symbol  of  prosperity.  The  shiftlessness  of  the 
lazy  man  is  similarly  denounced  or  ridiculed  in  6^"  12^''  19^*  20* 
al.  The  Grk.  (omitting  the  neg.)  :  the  idle  desire,  but  the  hands 
of  the  active  (or,  strenuous  or  manly)  are  diligent  (perhaps  error 
iox  prosperous)  ;  Lat.  (repeating  the  verb  in  first  cl.)  :  the  slothful 
will  and  will  not,  =  is  too  lazy  to  decide  or  to  act. 

5.  Men's  relation  to  truth. 

The  righteous  hate  deception, 

But  the  wicked  act  vilely  and  shamefully. 


XIII.  2-7  263 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  subjects  are  sing,  in  the  Hebrew.  De- 
ception (Ht.  a  false  thing)  includes  all  words  and  deeds  opposed 
to  truthfulness  (cf.  Col.  f  Eph.  4-*) .  As  in  first  cl.,  so  in  second 
cl.  the  verbs  more  naturally  express  an  attitude  of  mind  (cf.,  for 
this  rendering,  10^  12''  14^  17"  ig"*^)  ;  deception  =vile  a7id  shame- 
ful action*  Other  translations  (which,  however,  fail  to  bring  out 
a  distinct  antithesis)  are  :  brings  into  evil  odor  (or,  disgrace')  and 
shame  (Schult.  De.  Str.  RV.  marg.)  ;  is  loathsome  and  comes  to 
shame  (RV.)  ;  is  ashamed  and  without  confidence  (Grk.)  ;  is 
ashamed  and  put  to  the  blush  '(Targ.)  ;  acts  badly  and  brings 
sha?ne  (Saad.)  ;   confounds  and  shall  be  confounded  (Lat.). 

6.  Preservative  power  of  probity. 

Righteousness  preserves  him  whose  conduct  is  perfect, 
But  wickedness  destroys  the  sinner. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.  the  perfect  of  walk ;  the  Heb.  seems 
intended  to  read  :  innocence  of  walk,  and,  in  second  cl.,  sin,  but 
the  concrete  terms  are  preferable  in  the  Heb.  text  as  well  as  in 
the  Eng.  translation.  In  second  cl.  the  Anc.  Vrss.  have  (not  so 
well)  sin  destroys  (or,  carries  off)  the  wicked.  On  the  OT.  con- 
ception perfect  see  note  on  2^ ,  and,  on  the  general  statement  of 
the  earthly  consequences  of  good  and  evil  conduct,  notes  on  i^^-^ 
3^^  10^,  etc.  —  There  seems  no  reason  to  hold,  with  Lag.,  that 
righteoicsness  here  =  almsgiving ;  the  natural  opposite  of  wicked- 
ness is  goodness  in  general.  Lag.  refers  to  v.'-^  (on  which  see 
notes),  and  inclines  to  take  sin  (=  offence  against  the  theocratic 
order)  as  subject,  but  for  this  there  seems  to  be  no  necessity. 
On  the  OT.  relation  between  righteousness  and  almsgiving  see 
note  on  10-.  —  Righteousness  may  save,  and  wickedness  destroy, 
through  the  operation  of  natural  causes,  or  through  the  directly 
manifested  fevor  or  disfavor  of  God,  who  remembers  and  reckons 
acts  for  or  against  men  (Gen.  15"  Ez.  21-*'-'-").  This  verse  is  lack- 
ing in  the  Vatican  MS.  of  the  Grk.,  perhaps  by  scribal  oversight. 

7,  Social  pretence. 

Some,  having  nothing,  pretend  to  be  rich, 
Others,  being  wealthy,  pretend  to  be  poor. 

*  So  Rashi,  Ew.  Kamp. 


264  PROVERBS 

Antithetic,  binary  (or,  ternary-binary) .  Apparently  a  condemna- 
tory reference  to  two  contrasted  weaknesses,  namely,  foolish  love 
of  display,  and  equally  foolish  miserliness,  conduct  which  is  doubt- 
less to  be  met  with  at  all  times.  Or,  there  may  be  special  allu- 
sion to  a  state  of  things  which  was  common  in  the  disordered 
period  of  the  conflicts  between  the  Greek  princes  of  Syria  and 
Egypt,  when  there  were  often  pressing  reasons  for  making  a  show 
of  wealth  or  poverty.  The  moral  is  that  men  should  be  simply 
honest  and  unpretentious.  In  second  cl.  there  might  possibly  be 
an  allusion  to  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  obligation  to  give  alms  (see 
note  on  preceding  verse),  but  such  allusion  is  not  obvious. 

8.  Wealth  as  a  protection  against  enemies.  —  The  text  of 
second  cl.  appears  to  have  suffered  from  scribal  error.  The  Heb. 
of  the  couplet  reads  : 

A  man's  wealth  is  ransom  for  his  life, 
But  the  poor  man  does  not  heed  rebuke, 

in  which  the  predicate  of  second  cl.  is  identical  with  that  of  v.^**, 
and  stands  in  no  relation  to  first  clause.  It  is  not  the  character- 
istic of  the  poor  to  reject  admonition,  and  the  connection  calls  for 
the  statement  that  the  poor  man,  not  having  money  with  which  to 
buy  off  his  prosecutor  or  oppressor,  must  suffer  the  legal  or  illegal 
consequences  of  his  crime  or  misfortune ;  see  similar  references 
to  the  social  disadvantages  of  poverty  in  14^"  19*-^  30".  Examples 
of  a  state  of  things  in  which  money  alone  saves  life  abotmd  in  Jew- 
ish and  other  histories  (and  cf.  the  reference  to  murderous  rapac- 
ity in  Ez.  22^'').  The  predicate  of  second  cl.  may  be  erroneous 
scribal  repetition  from  v},  and  should  perhaps  read  something 
like  has  nofi-iends,  or  is  a  prey  to  his  enemies.  Or,  the  second  cl. 
may  be  repetition  of  v.^'',  with  erroneous  substitution  of  poor  man 
for  scoffer ;  in  that  case  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  first  clause.  — 
Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  establish  a  connection  be- 
tween the  two  clauses.  Saad.  :  [wealth,  rightly  used  in  good 
works,  saves  life]  but  he  is  poor  who  heeds  not  the  admonition  of 
God ;  Rashi :  the  poor  does  not  hear  reproach  (from  the  good 
rich  man,  who,  on  the  contrary,  gives  him  alms),  or  he  who  is 
poor  (in  the  knowledge  of  the  law)  hea?-s  not  the  admonition  (of 
the  law,  and  therefore  does  not  escape  evil)  ;    Midrash  Haggada 


XIII.  7-8  265 

(cited  by  Rashi)  refers  the  clause  to  the  payment  of  the  half- 
shekel  obligatory  on  all  Israelites  equally  (Ex.  3o''^),  so  that  the 
poor  man  is  not  exposed  to  contempt  for  his  poverty  ;  De.  points 
out  that  the  reference  cannot  be  to  the  old  legal  commutation  of 
the  death-penalty  to  a  fine,  for  this  is  restricted  to  one  case  (Ex. 
21^"),  and  even  then  the  offender  does  not  escape  threatening  or 
rebuke,  and,  if  he  cannot  pay  the  fine,  must  suffer  death  (cf.  Ex. 
2  2^'-')  ;  Schult.  agrees  in  general  with  Saad.,  holding  the  meaning 
to  be  :  true  riches  is  that  (namely,  wisdom  and  virtue)  which 
saves  a  man  from  death  {ip  49^'"),  and  he  is  poor  who  does  not 
heed  admonition ;  Ewald  takes  the  second  half  of  the  clause  as 
subject  (an  improbable  construction),  and  translates:  yef  he 
became  poor  who  never-  heard  an  accusation  (reference  to  legal 
proceedings)  ;  some  *  take  rebuke  as  =  threat  (a  sense  which  the 
word  nowhere  else  has),  and  understand  the  meaning  to  be  that 
the  poor  man,  secure  in  the  fact  that  he  has  nothing  to  be  robbed 
of  {cantabit  vacuus  coram  hitro7ie  viator),  hears  or  heeds  not 
threats,  is  not  concerned  with  the  schemes  of  the  powerful  op- 
pressor.—  These  renderings  are  all  forced  and  improbable;  the 
first  clause  simply  points  out  the  value  of  wealth,  apparently  in 
evil  or  corrupt  times,  as  a  means  of  security  (by  bribery,  and,  in 
general,  by  procuring  powerful  protection),  and  the  second  cl. 
either  belongs  to  another  couplet,  or  must  be  emended  so  as  to 
give  a  contrast  to  first  clause.  The  emendation  zaicked  for  poor 
does  not  furnish  a  contrast.  —  On  ransom  see  note  on  6*'.  In  the 
present  case  the  rich  man  is  exposed  to  the  legal  and  other 
assaults  of  the  powerful,  and  saves  his  life  by  a  payment  of  money. 
See  10'^,  and,  contra,   ii-^ 

XIII.  1.  In  ^  yniy  or  Sap  may  have  fallen  out;  cf.  i^  4^  8^^  19^''  al.  Dimock 
(cited  by  Dys.),  2nx,  for  J§  3{<;  Kamp.  ans  (if  this  be  adopted,  noa  and  anx 
should  be  transposed) ;  Bi.  inserts  prep,  jd  before  iDC,  but  the  resulting  con- 
struction is  hard.  (S^  vtti^koos  may  represent  yc::'  (so  in  21^^,  where,  however, 
Jag.  proposes  to  read  eTnj/coos),  or  may  be  free  rendering  of  J^;  in  •*  olv^koos 
=  jJDi:'  nS,  and  11165  apparently  represents  yh  (assimilation  to  form  of  *) ;  ^j* 
d7rwXe^^(^  ni^ji)  is  perh.  corruption  of  iv  dTreiXrj  (Jag.,  see  v.^). — ST  inserts 
S^pD  in  %  and  <S  jjonir-c.  In  ''  <S  follows  (g  freely.  On  9C  NPya,  to  be  read 
NnN3  (so  S),  see  Levy,  s.v.  nt>'3,  and  Pinkuss.  —  For  non  4  MSS.  have  nci:", 

*  Mich,  De.  Now.  Reuss,  Noyes,  Zock.  Str.  Kamp.  RV. 


266  PROVERBS 

after  lo^.  —  2.  In  "  ^  renders  as  in  12"*;  for  pj  r\s  ^q  <@  has  diKaLoavvri^, 
perh.  reading  pis,  perh.  imitating  ii^'^  (Baum.).  (§''  oXoCi'Tai  dwpot  may 
represent  J^  D;:n  (the  evil  fate  which  overtakes  the  wicked),  or  DDP,  from 
DDD  (Capp.  Crit.  Sac,  iv.  4,  5,  cf.  Lag.  Baum.  Pink.).  On  6.wpoi  cf.  Frank, 
on  11^''.  The  word  does  not  of  itself  render  D:;n,  but  only  in  conjunction  with 
some  other  term,  as  perish.  —  A  connection  between  "  and  '^  might  be  got  by 
inserting  ya  after  w's  (so  Si),  and  supplying  in  "^  a  verb  parallel  to  '?3X\  See 
note  on  this  v.  above.  —  Instead  of  '^o.n^  7  MSS.  and  Bibl.  Sonc.  have  yaB",  and 
so  SiCiL  Venet.,  as  in  12I*.  —  3.  The  stem  x^t'fi  in  Arab,  —go  forth,  separate 
one''s  self  (then  transgress,  act  unrestrainedly)  ;  in  Aram.,  cause  to  go  forth  or 
away,  cut  off ;  in  Heb.  cause  to  go  apart,  open  zvide  (Qal  only  here.  Pi. 
Ez.  iS''^^).  —  4.  In  |§  '?sy  i;;'i3j  the  ■>  may  be  petrified  sign  of  Nom.,  as  in  inin, 
Gen.  i2*  al.,  ij3,  Nu.  243- 1^,  uvc,  ^  114^  perh.  to  be  read  •'jvo  (the  form  is  not 
found  elsewhere  in  Pr.),  or  Aram,  anticipatory  suff.  (elsewhere  in  Pr.  only 
14^^,  on  which  see  note),  or  we  may  (with  Bi.)  omit  it  as  scribal  error.  %  adds 
the  suff.  to  the  second  Z'qi  also.  —  With  \6-\  cf.  Assyr.  >^v■^,  Jl^'^.  —  (g,  not  so 
well,  omits  pN;  3L  takes  it  as  negation  of  nixriD:  vult  et  non  vult  piger. 
(SSIL  render  Vi7  'j  as  =  ^-i';.  —  5.  ||J  u\x3',  from  i:'N2;  better  vy,  from  vi. — 
®  ovx  e^enrapp-qcrLav  is  free  rendering  of  |^  ncn'';  on  <S  see  Pinkuss.  —  6.  One 
MS.  has  o>i:-i,  and  one  asan.  Read  CvS-on  instead  of  |^  rxon.  The  subst.  an 
occurs  a  number  of  times  in  Pr.  (2^  10^  19I  20'^  28'^),  the  sing.  adj.  here,  lo^^ 
29!",  the  sing,  dcp  i^^  2^1  ijS.  20  281"-  is.  —  Yor  the  stem  ^iSd  cf.  the  Arab,  sense 
go  beyond,  and  turn  over  (land  for  sowing) ;  in  Heb.  Pi.  turn  over,  destroy  ; 
subst.  fj^D  departure  from  {going  beyond)  the  right  ■way,  falsity.  —  The  couplet, 
found  in  (§^-  ''^-  ^^^-  2^*-  "'•  S>^  Clem.  Procop.,  is  lacking  in  (@^,  probably  by 
scribal  inadvertence;  its  sentiment,  though  of  the  most  general  nature,  is 
appropriate,  and  the  style  of  the  Hebrew  is  natural.  —  8.  For  |^  t"\  F"rank. 
suggests  >^:^n;  see  note  on  this  v.  above.  If  this  emendation  be  adopted,  the 
two  lines  of  the  v.  must  be  held  to  belong  to  different  couplets.  J^  ^lyj; 
(S  aireL\-qv.  On  this  word,  and  on  ST  Nni'3,  &  nhno,  see  critical  note  on  v.i 
above.  ' 

9.   Permanent  prosperity  of  the  righteous. 

The  light  of  the  righteous  4  shines  brightly,' 
But  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  goes  out. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Shines  brightly  is  in  the  Heb.  rejoices,  an 
expression  not  appropriate  in  the  connection.  Statement  of  the 
earthly  fortunes  of  good  and  bad  men  under  the  figure  of  houses, 
one  brightly  illuminated  (symbol  of  life,  prosperity,  joy),  the 
other  in  darkness  (symbol  of  adversity  and  death)  ;  see  the  full 
form  of  the  figure  in  Job  18*'.  Light  and  latnp  are  synonymous 
(so  in  Job  18^),  not  symbols  respectively  of  divine  providence  and 
human  sagacity  (De.,  who,  inappropriately,  refers  to  6^).     For 


XIII.  9-IO  267 

some  general  parallels  in  Talmudic  and  other  writings  see  Hitz. 
De.  (the  references  in  Malan  are  scarcely  appropriate). — ■ 
Another  emendation  (Frank.)  is:  light  rejoices  the  righteous, 
which  gives  a  less  marked  antithesis  than  the  reading  here 
adopted.  Grk. :  there  is  light  to  the  righteous  ahvays,  perhaps  a 
free  rendering  of  our  Heb.,  perhaps  based  on  a  different  text. 
The  Grk.  adds  the  couplet : 

Crafty  souls  go  astray  in  sins, 

But  the  righteous  pity  and  are  merciful. 

For  the  first  cl.  cf.  2^^  6^-,  and,  for  second  cl.,  i/^  37^^;  the  two 
clauses  have  no  special  connection  with  each  other.  The  couplet 
is  not  improbably  a  combination  of  glosses. 

10.   Pride  as  source  of  discord.      The  Heb.  reads : 

Pride  causes  only  strife, 

But  with  those  who  take  counsel  is  wisdom. 

Antithetic,  ternary-binary.  Cf.  11^"  12^  15^^  24^.  According  to 
this  reading/;'/^.?  (haughty  self-confidence)  is  set  over  against  the 
disposition  to  take  counsel,  which  is  the  sign  of  rational  self-dis- 
trust ;  and  such  pride,  bringing  one  into  conflict  with  others,  is 
thus  foolish,  while  the  opposite  disposition  is  a  mark  of  wisdom. 
A  distincter  antithesis  is  gained  if  (with  Hitz.,  after  11^,  on  which 
see  note)  we  read  :  with  the  humble  is  wisdom  (for  which  the 
change  required  in  the  Heb.  is  not  great)  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  reading  of  the  text  is  intelligible,  and  is  perhaps  a  designed 
variation  of  that  of  1 1^.  The  general  sense  remains  the  same  — 
those  who  take  counsel  (RV.,  not  so  accurately,  the  well-advised') 
may  be  described  as  humble  or  modest.  The  proverb  is  directed 
against  litigiousness  and  general  quarrelsomeness  and  offensive 
assertion  of  one's  supposed  rights,  perhaps,  also,  against  the  obsti- 
nate pride  of  rival  princes,  which  frequently  led  to  wars.  —  Grk. 
(with  different  text)  :  a  bad  man  does  evil  by  insolence,  but  they 
who  judge  themselves  are  wise,  in  which  the  antithesis  is  less  clear 
than  in  the  Hebrew.     The  couplet  should  perhaps  read  : 

Pride  engenders  strife, 

But  with  the  humble  is  wisdom, 

humble  being  taken  as  =  unassuming. 


268  PROVERBS 

11.  Results  of  legitimate  and  illegitimate  accumulation  of 
wealth. 

Wealth  gathered  i  in  haste  >  grows  small, 
But  he  who  gradually  amasses  increases. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  Heb.  reads  :  wealth  (got)  from  nothing- 
ness (or,  vanity),  in  which  vanity  is  by  some*  taken  as  =f7-aud, 
swindling;  but  the  word  means  only  "a  breath,  something  transi- 
tory, practically  non-existent"  (Dt.  32-^  Job  7'^  Eccl.  i^),  a  sense 
which  is  here  inappropriate  (since  wealth  built  up  from  nothing 
may  be  praiseworthy),  and  does  not  offer  a  good  contrast  with 
the  following  gradually.  Comparison  with  20^^  28-^  makes  it 
probable  that  the  Grk.  and  the  Lat.  are  right  in  reading  in  haste  f  ; 
the  expression  probably  looks  to  abnormal  methods,  not  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinary  laws  of  industry  or  inheritance  (as  by  son 
from  father),  but  fraudulent  business  procedures,  extortion,  and 
the  like.  A  man  who  becomes  rich  in  this  way,  says  the  proverb, 
is  likely  to  lose  his  wealth ;  the  reference  is  probably  to  reckless 
expenditure  in  luxuries,  dissipation,  speculations  and  illegal  ven- 
tures, not  to  divine  retribution ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  legiti- 
mate industry  will  be  accompanied  by  caution  and  thrift.  This  is 
obviously  the  observation  of  a  man  who  lived  in  a  commercial 
community.  —  The  rendering  wealth  dwindles  away  sooner  than  a 
breath  (Umbreit,  Noyes)  is  in  itself  inappropriate  (since  a  breath, 
here  =  notlmig,  cannot  dwindle),  and  does  not  stand  in  contrast 
with  second  cl.  —  The  translation  by  labor  (RV.),  instead  of 
gradually,  is  improbable.  —  The  Grk.  inserts  the  explanatory 
phrases  ifiiquitously  (in  first  cl.),  righteously  (in  second  cl.), 
which  latter  Targ.  renders  and  gives  to  the  poor  (see  note  on  10^). 
—  Grk.  adds  :  The  7'ighteous  is  merciful  and  lends,  on  which  see 
note  on  v.^. 

12.  Hope  fulfilled  and  unfulfilled. 

Hope  deferred  makes  the  heart  sick, 
But  desire  fulfilled  is  a  tree  of  life. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Hope  and  desire  are  synonyms  —  each  =  "the 
thing  desired  or  hoped  for."    Fulfilled  \^  lit.  having  come.     Instead 

*  Schult,  De.  Str,  f  So  Vog.  Hitz.  Ew.  Reuss,  Bi.  Kamp.  al. 


XIII.  II-I3  269 

of  hope  deferred  we  might  render  extended  waiting — the  sense 
would  be  the  same.  Heart  is  not  the  emotional  nature,  but  the 
whole  inward  man ;  on  tree  of  Ufe  see  notes  on  3^^  1 1^".  The 
proverb  has  no  ethical  bearing ;  it  is  true  without  reference  to  the 
moral  character  of  desire.  The  Grk.,  misimderstanding  the  scope 
of  the  saying,  writes  good  desire. 

13.   Safety  lies  in  obedience.      The  Heb.  reads: 

He  who  despises  the  word  is  treated  as  debtor  to  it, 
But  he  who  fears  the  commandment  is  rewarded. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Is  treated  as  debtor  is  lit.  has  been  forced  to 
give  a  pledge.  According  to  the  Jewish  law  the  debtor  deposited 
with  the  creditor  some  article  as  pledge  (Ex.  22'*''-^'  Am.  2*  Job 
22^  Pr.  20^"  al.)  or  mortgaged  his  house  or  land  (Neh.  5^),  and 
the  creditor,  if  the  debt  were  not  paid,  might  take  possession  of 
the  debtor's  property  (Mic.  2^),  and  even,  if  this  did  not  suffice, 
of  his  person,  and  his  wife  and  children  (2  K.  4^  Isa.  50^  Neh. 
5^).*  So,  our  text  declares,  he  who  offends  against  the  word 
(that  is,  the  law)  is  regarded  as  a  debtor  to  it,  and,  if  he  do  not 
meet  his  obligation,  will  be  punished,  while  he  who  feais  and 
obeys  will  be  rewarded  (cf.  11^^).  The  sinner,  it  is  said,  exists 
on  sufferance  for  a  time ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  must  dis- 
charge his  obligation  by  obedience,  or  submit  to  his  fate.  This, 
however,  is  hardly  a  natural  representation,  and  a  slight  change  of 
the  Heb.  gives  the  simpler  reading  : 

He  who  despises  the  word  will  perish, 

But  he  who  fears  the  command  will  be  safe. 

The  term  word  may  mean  "  law  in  general  "  ;  possibly  it  =  word 
of  God,  with  specific  reference  to  the  divine  law  given  to  Israel. 
The  punishment  and  reward  may  come  from  man  or  from  God. 
Cf.  notes  on  i^  3^  16-°.  —  Gratz  unnecessarily  emends  to  :  he  who 
despises  strife  .  .  .  and  he  who  fears  contention  ...  —  Grk.  adds 
the  triplet : 

A  crafty  son  will  have  no  good  thing, 

But  the  affairs  of  a  wise  servant  will  be  prosperous, 

And  his  path  will  be  directed  aright. 

*  See  Nowack,  Heb.  Arch.,  pp.  353  flf. 


270  PROVERBS 

This  is  apparently  a  scribal  addition,  taken,  perhaps,  from  some 
current  collection  of  proverbs  (not  from  Ben-Sira)  ;  the  second 
and  third  lines  perhaps  form  a  doublet.  The  thought  is  in  keep- 
ing with  that  of  our  Book  of  Proverbs,  in  which,  however,  the 
only  parallel  couplet  is  i  f.  —  The  Lat.  adds  the  couplet  given  in 
the  Grk.  after  v.^ 

14.  Wisdom  is  life-giving. 

The  teaching  of  the  sage  is  a  fountain  of  life, 
Whereby  one  may  avoid  the  snares  of  death. 

Ternary,  progressive  (second  cl.  =  predicate  of  first  cl.),  in  form 
a  single  sentence,  contrary  to  the  norm  of  this  part  of  the  Book ; 
14^  is  nearly  identical.  The  two  hnes  give  two  different  figures. 
The  second  cl.  is  lit. :  to  avoid,  etc.  On  fountain  of  life  see  note 
on  lo^^  Teaching  (Heb.  tora^  =  "content  of  the  instruction." 
Snares  of  death  are  snares  set  by  death  (as  fowler  or  hunter),  or, 
more  probably,  snares  of  which  the  result  is  death,  as  in  first  cl. 
the  result  of  the  fountain  is  life.  The  sage  (see  22''  2\-^  i""*  2^)  is 
the  man  of  experience  and  wisdom,  the  teacher  (public  or  private) 
whose  instruction  is  designed  to  be  a  practical  guide  in  everyday 
affairs.  The  sages  appear  to  have  formed  a  recognized  class  at 
this  time,  and  to  have  performed  the  function  of  Heads  of  schools 
or  Professors  of  the  philosophy  of  life.  Their  teaching  related  to 
matters  of  common-sense  prudence,  and  to  the  more  nearly  ideal 
conception  of  right  and  wrong ;  it  included  the  observations  of 
practical  sagacity,  and  the  prescriptions  of  a  strictly  ethical-reli- 
gious view  of  life  ;  see  notes  on  i-"®  10"  13"  14-''  al.  In  Proverbs 
the  guide  of  life  is  not  the  immediate  divine  word  of  the  Prophets 
or  the  divine  rule  of  the  Tora,  but  human  reflection  illuminated 
by  divine  wisdom  —  a  difference  which  indicates  a  new  phase  of 
development  of  Israelitish  moral  and  religious  thought. — The 
Grk.  gains  a  contrast  by  reading  second  cl. :  but  the  foolish  dies  by 
a  snare,  an  improbable  form  (cf.  12^'"').  An  antithetic  form  might 
be  expected,  but  cannot  be  got  by  any  natural  emendation  of  the 
Hebrew  text.  The  idea  of  the  proverb,  as  it  stands,  is  that  integ- 
rity (probably  religious  integrity)  brings  long  and  happy  life,  as  in 
i'  al. 


XIII.  13-15  271 

9.  J^  rru'i;  S3r  rnj;  IL  laeiificat,  reading  Pi.  (so  Frank.),  but  the  order 
of  words  does  not  favor  this  reading;  (§  Sid  ■Ko.vTb^,  perh.  paraphrase  of  pj,  con- 
trast to  the  extinguished ol  ^  (Jag.),  hardly  for  noiyi  is  extended {\^d.g.),  possibly 
for  nsjS  or  ^Dn;  see  Schleusn.  who  thinks  that  a  word  (perh.  x^'P^^")  has  fallen 
out.  One  MS.  of  De  R.  has  n:3S\  Gratz  would  emend  to  mi''  (cf.  2  K.  3^2 
Isa.  58!"  Job  9'^),  a  more  natural  reading  than  that  of  |^,  and  here,  probably,  to 
be  adopted;  na'i'  is  nowhere  else  used  of  a  light.  —  For  Heb.  translations  of  the 
couplet  added  in  (§  see  Ew.  and  Bi.;  cf.  note  on  this  v.  above.  — 10.  pj  asyj; 
Hi.  (not  improbably)  opv,  after  11-;  (3,  freely,  eavTCof  iiriyvupLoves  (see  12-''). 
—  (S  >'i  for  1^  p-i.  It  is  better  to  omit  f-\  and  the  2  of  pra  as  corrupted  repeti- 
tion of  preceding  li^. —  11.  p?  '?3n^;  (S  eTria-rrovda^ofji.^i'Ti,  %  festinata.  .SST 
follow  ®,  with  modifications.  Read  (with  Ew.  Reuss,  Lag.  Kamp.)  'rnbc.  —  Vy 
Ti  =  "  according  to  the  task  of  the  day,  gradually  "  (cf.  Levy,  NHW.,  for  the 
late  Heb.  use) ;  T13  would  mean  "  by  the  labor  of  one's  hand."  ©  adds  at 
end:  S/zcatos  oiKreipeL  Kal  Kixpg-.  — 12.  (3  gives  an  elaborate  paraphrase  of  *, 
making  of  it  a  full  couplet:  Kpeiaa-iiiv  ivapx^/JLevos  [B  —  fj.^vois'}  ^orjOCsv  [«•=■» 
106.  248.  A  ai.  ^o-qdelv]  KapSlq,  ToO  iwayyeWoixii'ov  Kal  els  eXirlda  dyovros, 
=  Setter  speedy  help  than  halting  promise.  Some  MSS.  of  (@  (23.  106.  149  «/.) 
and  S^  here  add  the  line  above  given  at  end  of  v.^',  while  others  (106.  248) 
omit  l^**.  As  the  form  of  ^  is  obviously  original,  these  variations  exhibit  the 
liberties  and  uncertainties  of  Grk.  scribes  (see  Baum.).  — 13.  On  the  Heb. 
represented  by  the  addition  in  (5  (found  also  in  S)  see  Ew.,  Bi.,  and,  on  the 
texts  of  (5  and  S,  Baum.  Pinkuss.  —  Gr.  reads  3t  for  iji,  and  nsD  strife  for 
nisc.  Better  Frank.,  who  omits  i*?,  and  reads  a'?L^''  ((§  vyialvei)  for  J§  a'7:i'\  — 
14.  In^  (§  has:  6  5^  &vovs  vwb  irayidos  davetrai,  =  tT'pDD  PDi  Sddi  (so  Baum.; 
Jag.  id)  ;  but  the  collocation  die  +  snare  is  hard.  We  should  perh.  expect 
some  such  form  as  p-fs  iD\  —  S  and  one  Heb.  MS.  have  nojn  for  ^  D3n. 

15.   Value  of  intelligence.      The  first  cl.  reads : 

Fine  intelligence  (or,  good  sense)  wins  favor. 

The  expression  (DQ  bat')  which  stands  as  subject  of  the  clause 
signifies  intellectual /(?;/^/ra//,?;z  ox  fineness  {\  Sam.  25^),  or  wis- 
dom in  the  most  general  sense  {\^  iii^°)  (in  Pr.  3^  the  text  must 
be  changed)  ;  the  substantive  is  the  distinctive  term  in  Prov.  for 
sagacity,  discretion,  prudence  (12*  i6"  19"  23^,  and  so  Ezr.  8^*). 
Here  the  reference  is  to  that  fine  perception  of  propriety  which 
makes  a  man  discreet  and  courteous  in  his  dealing  with  his 
fellows,  whereby  he  wins  their  favor ;  the  term  culture  (suggested 
by  De.),  understood  to  include  both  intellectual  and  social  fine- 
ness, may  convey  the  idea  of  the  Hebrew.  —  With  this  idea  the 
second  cl.,  as  it  now  stands,  cannot  be  brought  into  clear  relation. 
Lit.  it  reads  :  The  way  (conduct,  manner)  of  the  wicked  (faithless) 


2/2  PROVERBS 

is  permanent  (enduring),  in  which  wickedness  is  not  a  natural  con- 
trast to  intelligence,  and  the  conduct  or  manner  of  Hfe  of  the 
wicked  is  described  not  as  bringing  disfavor,  but  as  permanent,  a 
term  used  everywhere  else  in  a  laudatory  sense,  as  indicative  of 
strength,  but  never  with  ethical  significance.  It  is  employed  to 
describe  a  stream  as  perennial  (Am.  5-^  Dt.  21^  i/^  74^^),  or  men 
(Jer.  5^''  49^^  so"*^  Job  12''),  or  their  abode  (Nu.  24-^),  or  the  foun- 
dations of  the  earth  (Mic.  6^),  as  enduring,  a  bow  (Gen.  49'^),  as 
standing  fast,  sure,  the  sea  as  having  a  permanent  place  or  flow 
(Ex.  14^),  and  pain  as  perpetual  (Job  33^^).  The  renderings 
hard  (AV.  Str.),  rugged  (RV.),  unfruitful,  desolate  (Reuss,  Zock.), 
uncultivated  (De.),  are  unwarranted  by  etymology  or  usage. 
Schultens  understands  it  as  =  tenacious,  inflexible,  that  is,  in  a 
bad  sense,  but  such  a  sense  does  not  belong  to  it ;  the  clause  can- 
not mean  :  the  manner  or  conduct  of  bad  men  is  characterized  by 
an  immovableness  which  pays  no  respect  to  the  claims  of  others. 
Grk.  Syr.  Targ. :  are  destroyed;  Lat. :  whirlpool.  —  The  true  read- 
ing is  uncertain.  The  translation  of  AV. :  the  way  of  transgress- 
ors is  hard  has  been  by  many  readers  understood  to  mean  that 
transgressors  have  a  hard  time  of  it,  or,  that  the  modes  of  proce- 
dure of  bad  men  are  cruel  —  senses  which  are  foreign  to  the 
words.  The  next  verse  may  perhaps  suggest  that  the  original  text 
contained  some  such  expression  as  "  the  conduct  of  fools  is  hate- 
ful" (or,  "breeds  enmity"),  or,  less  probably,  "is  their  destruc- 
tion" (Grk.),  or  (Frank.)  "is  emptiness"  (cf  BS.  41^").  The 
two  lines  appear  to  belong  to  different  couplets.  —  After  the  first 
cl.  the  Grk.  adds  the  apparent  variant : 

And  to  know  the  law  is  the  part  of  sound  understanding, 

the  first  half  of  which  reads  like  a  gloss  on  the  expression  wins 
favor — one,  that  is,  gains  the  favor  of  God  by  a  knowledge  of 
the  law.  But  the  line  is  found  in  the  Grk.  at  the  end  of  9^"  also, 
where  it  is  more  appropriate ;  and  it  was,  perhaps,  here  inserted 
merely  because  of  the  common  expression  sound  understanding 
i^z=i fine  intelligence^. 

16.   Good  sense  and  its  lack  shown  in  conduct. 

The  man  of  sense  shows  intelligence  in  all  he  does, 
But  the  fool  makes  a  display  of  folly. 


XIII.  15-17  273 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  Heb.  has,  in  first  cl. :  Every  man  of 
sense  acts  with  knowledge  (or,  intelligence')  ;  the  transposition 
(with  Syr.  Lat.)  of  the  every  (=  all)  gives  a  better  form  to  the 
sentence.  The  adj.  sensible  (=  of  sense,  'RN. prudent)  is  a  com- 
mon term  in  Prov.  for  the  expression  of  intellectual  sobriety  and 
acuteness ;  what  is  here  said  is  that  a  man  of  this  sort  acts  with 
due  regard  to  circumstances,  while  the  fool  spreads  out  or  displays 
his  ignorance  and  folly  like  a  pedlar  who  openly  spreads  his  wares 
before  the  gaze  of  all  men.  Cf.  12"^  15-.  The  reference  appears 
to  be  solely  to  intellectual  qualities. 

17.  Good  and  bad  messengers. 

An  i  incompetent  >  messenger  <  plunges  one  >  into  misfortune, 
But  a  trustworthy  envoy  insures  success. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  jvickcd  and/?//f  into  ; 
but  it  is  the  business  capacity  of  the  messenger,  and  not  his  moral 
character,  that  is  in  question  (so  in  25^^),  and  the  predicate  refers 
(as  in  second  cl.)  not  to  the  misfortunes  of  the  messenger,  but  to 
the  unhappy  consequences  which  his  incapacity  entails  on  his  em- 
ployers. The  correction  requires  only  the  omission  of  one  letter 
and  the  change  of  two  vowel-points.  The  term  envoy  occurs 
again  in  25^'';  in  Isa.  18'-  Jer.  49"  (=  Obad.'),  and  perhaps  in 
Isa.  5  7^,*  it  means  a  political  or  governmental  messenger,  an  a>?i- 
bassador,  but  the  more  general  name  envoy  is  preferable  as  suiting 
all  the  passages  in  which  the  word  occurs.  The  reference  is  prob- 
ably to  private  as  well  as  public  negotiations,  and  to  affairs  of 
every  description  for  the  settlement  of  which  an  intermediator  is 
required.  The  terms  incompetent,  trustworthy,  misfortune,  heals 
are  of  general  (not  primarily  ethical)  import.  —  Insures  success, 
lit.  is  health,  that  is,  is  a  source  of  health,  the  agency  by  which  a 
sound,  prosperous  condition  is  attained.  See  4-^  6'^  12'*  14^"'  15* 
16'''  29^  Mai.  4^  (3'").t  The  second  cl.  states  not  that  the  good 
messenger  heals  or  remedies  the  mistakes  of  the  bad  messenger  of 
first  cl.,  but  generally  that  such  an  one  is  helpful. 

*  In  Jos.  g"*  the  word  sliould  be  changed  so  as  to  agree  with  v.  12. 
t  On  the  term  in  Eccl.  lo*  (=  quiet  or  conciliatory  demeanor)  cf.  Siegfried  (in 
Nowack)  and  Wildeboer  (in  Marti). 
T 


274  PROVERBS 

18.  Financial  success  the  reward  of  docility  and  caution. 

Poverty  and  shame  will  be  the  lot  of  him  who  rejects  instruction, 
But  he  who  regards  admonition  will  be  honored. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Prudent  regard  to 
advice,  says  the  sage,  insures  success  in  hfe  ;  the  maxim  is  a  gen- 
eral one,  and  leaves  room  for  cases  in  which,  for  moral  or  other 
reasons,  one  must  go  against  the  counsel  of  friends.  The  primary 
reference  is  to  commercial  success.  The  sha7?ie  {disgrace)  is  that 
which  usually  attends  poverty,  and  the  honor  is  that  which  is  given 
to  wealth.  The  principle  involved  (caution  in  decisions)  has,  of 
course,  a  wider  scope.  Cf.  12^  15^'".  The  mstruction  and  admo- 
nitioft  may  be  understood  (but  less  probably)  to  refer  to  general 
moral  and  religious  teaching.  —  The  Grk.,  against  the  parallelism, 
inverts  the  order,  rendering  :  instruction  removes  (or,  averts)  pov- 
erty and  dishonor. 

19.  Two  displaced  lines,  each  of  which  has  lost  its  proper  par- 
allel line  : 

Desire  accomplished  is  sweet  to  the  soul, 

But  it  is  an  abomination  to  fools  to  depart  from  evil. 

The  first  cl.  is  substantially  identical  with  second  cl.  of  13^^,  and 
the  second  cl.  with  second  cl.  of  29%  in  each  of  which  couplets 
there  is  a  distinct  antithesis.  A  connection  here  between  the  two 
lines  has  been  sought  *  by  paraphrasing  :  "  desire  fulfilled  is  pleas- 
ant, and  thus  fools  cherish  their  evil  desire,  and  will  not  abandon 
it,"  or  (Wild.)  :  "the  desires  of  good  men  are  granted  by  God, 
but  fools  cannot  expect  such  a  blessing  "  ;  but  these  interpreta- 
tions are  forced,  and  contrary  to  the  style  of  Proverbs,  in  which 
the  connection  of  thought  is  simple  and  obvious;  cf.  18^,  in 
which  the  fool's  pleasure  is  defined,  and  see  notes  on  13^^  29^. — 
Grk.  (followed,  with  some  variations,  by  Syr.  Targ.)  has : 

The  desires  of  the  righteous  gladden  the  soul, 

But  the  deeds  of  the  unrighteous  are  far  from  knowledge; 

which  in  part  represents  a  different  Heb.  text  from  ours,  and 
seems  to  be  in  part  a  religious  interpretation  of  our  first  clause. 
Similar  religious  interpretations  of  the  first  cl.  are  given  by  Rashi, 

*  Rashi,  Schult.  De.  Reuss,  Str.  al. 


XIII.  I8-20 


275 


Delitzsch,  and  others,  but  it  obviously  contemplates  a  general  non- 
moral  fact  of  human  experience. 

20.   On  choosing  associates  wisely. 

Walk  with  the  wise,  and  thou  wilt  become  wise, 
But  he  who  associates  with  fools  will  smart  for  it. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  margin  (assimilating  the 
construction  to  that  of  second  cl.)  reads  :  he  who  walks  ...  be- 
comes. Will  smart  (see  ii'^)  is  lit.  will  be  inade  (or,  become^ 
bad  ( =  will  come  into  evil  case)  ;  there  is  an  implied  contrast 
between  this  evil,  the  result  o{  folly,  and  the  good  or  advantage 
which  is  derived  from  wisdom.  In  the  Heb.  of  second  cl.  there 
is  an  assonance  :  roe  Ifsilim  yero'a.  The  power  of  association  to 
mould  character  is  referred  to  in  i^"  2^^  4^*  16^^  22-*-^  23^°  28''". 
The  wise  may  be  in  general  men  of  good  sense,  or  the  reference 
may  be  specifically  to  sages,  men  who  sought  and  taught  wisdom. 
The  verse  may  be  an  admonition  to  attend  the  schools ;  cf.  BS. 
39*'^  Eccl.   12^". 

15.  At  end  of  "  Bi.  adds  "iDni  (presumably  for  the  metre's  sake).  — 1§  irriS 
(on  the  stem  see  BDB),  apparently  an  elative  form,  made  (as  in  South  Sem.) 
by  pref.  x,  sporadic  in  No.  Semitic;  (§  ei'  dTrwXelq:  (and  so  ,S) ;  ST  (apparently 
following  both  |ij  and  (@)  i^n  npi  xspn  Nmsi;  %  vorago.  Jag.  supposes 
that  (5  read  din  Iheir  calamity  (i'^''  24-2  Job  21"  a/.),  Gr.  p3N;  neither  of 
these  would  account  for  IL  vorago.  <§  may  possibly  be  free  rendering  of  |^. 
Frank,  inn  (see  Job  6^^  12^*  BS.  41^"),  which  is  not  satisfactory  in  itself,  and 
secures  no  good  contrast  between  the  clauses. — 16.  |§  m'y  ay;  S3;  better 
(as  apparently  SiL)  y  "'  Sd;  &  takes  7  '■>  as  defining  relative  clause  (Pink.); 
cf.  16^.  Gratz  proposes  '^du*  for  |^  S3.  — 17.  |§  T<So;  (&  jSacriXeiJs. — ?^  j.'t;n; 
read  >n  (so  Gratz). — ^  bh^;  read  Hif.  Stji  (so  Reuss,  Now.  Bi.  Gr.  Kamp. 
Frank.);  cf.  7^6  igis^  —  |^  djcn,  plu.  of  extent  and  emphasis.  —  nsid  may  be 
pointed  as  subst.  or  as  Pi.  Partcp. ;  (3,  freely,  pvaerai  avrbv.  — 18.  Before 
1^  y-\h  insert  S.  — 19.  |^  n^nj  niNP;  @  iwLdvfilai.  eiae^Qv  (68.  106.  a/.  Compl. 
dae^Civ),  in  which  ever,  is  probably  insertion  to  gain  a  religious  tone,  though 
it  may  represent  a  apis  (cf.  note  on  21^'') ;  ©  epya,  =  m^v  (Jag.)  for 
1^  nayh;  dirb  yvdiffeojs,  =  ynr,  for  |^  >'ic. — 3L  ^ui  fitgiiait,  as  if  D"iD  or  ip\ 
On  a  reading  a;z'-\,  for  |^  d'^dd,  see  De'  Rossi.  —  20.  Kethib  ^  (followed  by 
(5),  two  Impvs.  in  conditional  sentence;  Qeri  (followed  by  SSTIL)  has  Partcp. 
and  Impf.,  as  in  ''.  —  pj  v^";  (5  yviixrdrjaeTai,  =  Nif.  or  Hof.  of  ];t';  3L,  freely, 
similis  efficietur  ;  in  ^  &'!![■  =  |^. 


276  PROVERBS 

21,  22.  Recompense  of  righteousness  and  unrighteousness.  — 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  doctrine  of  earthly  reward  according  to 
conduct ;  see  notes  on  3^^^^. 

21.  Misfortune  pursues  sinners, 

But  good  fortune  is  the  lot  of  the  righteous. 

22.  The  good  man  leaves  wealth  to  his  children's  children, 
But  the  wealth  of  the  sinner  is  laid  up  for  the  righteous. 

21.  Misfortune  is  Ht.  evil;  good  fortune  is  simply  good  in  the 
Hebrew.  On  the  tQxm.'s,  sinners  and  righteous  see  notes  on  i^-^" 
2^.  The  second  cl.  is  lit.  :  he  (or,  ojie)  recompenses  the  righteous 
■with  good.  The  he  is  by  some  *  taken  to  refer  to  God  (Yahweh), 
but  this  is  improbable,  since  such  omission  of  the  divine  name  as 
subject  occurs  nowhere  else ;  others  f  understand  the  subject  to 
be  the  indefinite  one,  and  render  the  verb  as  passive  {the  righteous 
are  recompensed^,  a  construction  possible,  but  hardly  employed 
except  where  the  connection  points  naturally  to  a  definite  subject; 
still  others  would  construe  good  as  subject  {good  rewards  the 
righteous^,  taking  it  as  =  "  the  Good  One,"  God  (but  God  is 
never  in  OT.  called  simply  "the  Good  One"),  or  as  =  " pros- 
perity" (but  this  expression  represents  the  reward,  not  the  re- 
warder).  It  is  perhaps  better,  following  the  Grk.,  to  change  the 
verb  into  overtakes,  and  make  good  (corresponding  to  evil  in  first 
cl.)  the  subject:  good  overtakes  (=  is  the  lot  of)  the  righteous; 
for  this  use  of  the  verb  see  Isa.  59^  Job  27^".  The  sense  is  un- 
affected by  this  change  of  text.  The  Pass,  form  of  the  verb  in 
the  Heb.  is  found  in  11^*  13^^  —  22.  The  term  good  describes 
that  which  is  satisfactory  of  its  kind,  well  adapted  to  its  ends,  as 
food  (Gen.  3*''),  or  land  (Ex.  3^)  ;  used  of  persons  it  may  mean 
beautiful  (Gen.  24^^  i  Sam.  9^),  or  ki)id  (i  Sam.  25^^  \p  73'),  or 
morally  exemplary ;  here,  from  the  parallelism,  it  is  equivalent  to 
righteous,  as  in  12^  14^*- '^  The  reference  is  not  to  successful 
thrift,  or  to  the  kindhearted,  liberal  man  who  by  dispensing  bless- 
ing is  himself  blessed  (as  in  ii"^),  but  to  the  morally  good  man 
whose  obedience  to  law  is  rewarded  with  worldly  prosperity.  The 
ethical  use  of  the  term  is  frequent  in  Prov.,  less  frequent  in  Pss., 
elsewhere  rare.      The  bequeathal  of  wealth  to  descendants  was  in 

*  Saad.  Now.  Str.  and  apparently  Schult.  f  Lat.  De.  RV. 


XIII.  21-23  277 

Israel  (as  among  ancient  peoples  generally)  a  crowning  test  of 
prosperity.  This  blessing  is  said  to  come  to  the  righteous,  but 
not  to  sinners,  whose  wealth,  on  the  contrary,  passes  (by  natural 
laws)  into  the  hands  of  the  good.  On  sinner  see  notes  on  Z^' 
11=''. 

23.    The  Hebrew  yields  no  satisfactory  sense.     It  reads  : 

The  fallow-ground  of  the  poor  yields  (lit.  is)  abundance  of  food, 
But  many  a  man  perishes  (or,  is  swept  away)  by  injustice. 

The  statement  of  first  cl.  is  opposed  to  common  observation  and 
to  the  declaration  of   lo'*,  and   uses  the   strange  term  fallow- 
ground  instead  of  some  general  word  for  "  land  "  ;   the  second  cl. 
is  vague  (the  ifijustice  may  belong  to  the  perishing  man  or  to  his 
destroyer),  and  between  the  two  clauses  there  is  no  obvious  rela- 
tion—  the  productivity  of  a  poor  man's  land  has  nothing  to  do 
with  a  man's  perishing  by   injustice.      A  sufficiently  free  para- 
phrase may,  indeed,  supply  the  needed  connection :   "  even  the 
xesh  land  (which  requires  severe  labor,  and  is  presumably  of  mod- 
rate  productive  power)   of  a  (pious  or  industrious)  poor  man 
}elds  abundance  of  food,  while  many  men  (relatively  rich)   by 
tfeir  unjust  actions  (fail  to  get  nourishment  from  their  land,  and 
inthe  end)  are  destroyed."  *     But  these  insertions  overpass  the 
lirits  of  allowable  interpretation.      There  is  nothing  to  indicate 
the  the  poor  man  of  first  cl.  is  diligent  or  righteous  —  this  cannot 
be  roperly  inferred  (by  contrast)  from  the  injustice  of  second  cl. ; 
noris  the  poor  man,  as  such,  ever  commended  in  Prov.  (not  in 
i9"^^nd  not  in  3^^)  ;   moreover,  a  man  supplied  abundantly  with 
foodis  hardly  to  be  called  poor  (cf.  v.-^).^ — The  Anc.  Vrss.  vary 
consierably  from  the  Heb.,  and  from  one  another.      Grk. :  the 
righte^s  shall  pass  majiy  years  in  wealth,  but  the  unrighteous 
shall  \  speedily  destroyed ;   and  that  there  were  variations  in  the 
Greefeersions  is  shown  by  the  rendering  of  the  Hexaplar  Syriac, 
which  ;  based  on  the   Greek  text  of  Origen  :    the  great  enjoy 
wealth  \any  years,  but  some  men  perish  little  by  little;  Pesh.  Syr. : 
those  w\  have  no  habitation  (or,  means  of  subsistence)  [that  is, 
the  "^ooX  waste  wealth  many  years,  and  some  waste  {it)  [or,  per- 

*  So  substantially  Ew.  De.  Reuss,  Now.  Str. 


2/8  PROVERBS 

haps,  by  emendation,  perish']  completely;  Targ. :  the  great  man 
devours  the  land  of  the  poor,  and  some  men  are  taken  away 
{=  die)  unjustly  (or,  without  judgment)  ;  Lat.  :  there  is  much 
food  in  the  fresh  land  of  the  fathers  (=  chiefs,  heads  of  famihes), 
a7id  (or,  but)  for  others  it  is  collected  without  judgment.  The 
medieval  Jewish  commentators  are  equally  at  a  loss  in  translating 
the  verse.  Saad.  :  food  (that  is,  the  manner  of  one's  eating)  is 
often  a  sign  of  poverty,  and  many  men  are  carried  off  without 
judgment  (that  is,  without  knowing  the  judgment  of  God,  or  with- 
out dying  a  natural  death)  ;  Rashi  allegorizes.  —  Frankenberg 
emends : 

The  fallow-ground  of  the  wicked  yields  abundance  of  food, 

And  wealth  gathered  by  injustice. 

But  such  a  general  affirmation  is  not  found  elsewhere  in  Pr.,  the 
translation  wealth  collected  is  not  probable,  and  the  difficulty  of 
the  fallow-groimd  remains.  —  The  Hebrew  text  appears  to  be 
corrupt  beyond  emendation. 

24.  The  rod  for  children. 

He  who  spares  his  rod  hates  his  son, 
But  he  who  loves  him  chastises  him. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  Spares  =  withhcJs, 
fails  to  use  (it  does  not  mean  "uses  slightly")  ;  see  lo^^  ii*'*  7^^ 
21^*^  24"  Gen.  22^''  \\i  iqI"'!*'  Job  7".  Chastises  is  lit.  seeks 'jith 
chastisement,  =  deals  (with  him)  by  chastisement ;  the  verbioes 
not  contain  the  idea  of  "  early,  betimes,  diligently  "  (De.  KYjl.)  ; 
see  notes  on  i*^  7^^  8^"  ii"^  The  proverb  simply  commends 
bodily  chastisement  as  a  means  of  training ;  details  are  lefto  the 
judgment  of  parents;  on  chastisement  see  notes  on  i-^  dmilar 
sayings  are  22^^  23^^  29^^;  the  regulation  of  Dt.  21^*"^^  (iliction 
of  death  on  a  disobedient  son)  seems,  in  the  later  pc-exilian 
period,  to  have  fallen  into  desuetude.* 

*  On  methods  of  corporal  punishment  of  children  among  the  reeks  and 
Romans  see  Becker,  Char  ides,  Exc.  to  Sc.  I,  and  Gallus,  Exc.  II  Sc.  I,  and 
A.  Zimmern,  The  Home  Life  of  the  Ancient  Greeks  (transl.  from  the^erm.  of  H. 
Bliimner),  p.  98;  for  Chinese  and  other  apophthegms  relating  tc's  point  see 
Malan. 


XIII.  23-25  279 

25.   Relation  of  righteousness  to  supply  of  bodily  wants. 

The  righteous  has  enough  to  satisfy  his  appetite, 
But  the  wicked  suffers  lack  of  food. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit. ;  the  righteous  eats  ( =  has  food  enough) 
to  the  satisfying  of  his  appetite,  but  the  belly  of  the  wicked  lacks. 
On  appetite  (=  animal  life  or  soul)  see  notes  on  6^°  i^*.  Belly  is 
the  middle  part  of  the  body,  rarely  the  outer  surface  (Job  40^® 
Cant.  7^^^^),  usually  the  interior,  including  the  womb  (Gen.  25^ 
al.)  and  the  cavity  containing  the  bowels,  regarded  as  the  seat  of 
general  feeling  (Job  20"°)  or  as  the  receptacle  of  food  (here  and 
18^,  on  which  see  note)  ;  it  thus  comes  to  stand  for  the  man's 
being  or  personality  {\\i  17"),  or  the  combination  j-^z//  and  belly 
expresses  the  whole  being  {^  31^*'"').  The  reference  in  the  prov- 
erb is  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  bodily  needs,  food  standing  for  all 
the  physical  necessaries  of  life  —  not  to  the  satisfaction  of  spiritual 
needs,  of  which  there  is  no  suggestion  in  the  words;  the  inward 
life  of  spiritual  experience  is  alluded  to  in  Prov.  always  under  the 
general  terms  wisdom,  fear  of  Yahweh,  and  the  like.  On  bodily 
compensation  in  this  life  see  notes  on  i'^--^  2-^",  etc.  —  The  dis- 
tinctness of  the  phraseology  of  this  verse  brings  out  in  sharp 
relief  the  indistinctness  of  v.-^ 

21.  ?^  3b  aSc'i;  <5  KaraXriiiij/eTai  dyadd;  read  2'J  Jty  (Ew.  Kamp.) ;  Bi. 
aStr^;  Grjitz  aSB*^  apis  njpi;  Lag.  suggests  that  the  word  was  written  'W', 
out  of  which  (5  made  jit'i;  Jag.  regards  aj::'''  as  the  word  read  by  (S,  miswriting 
of  a'^,:'\  —  22.  To  understand  m.T'  as  subj.  of  '■•nr  is  unnatural  and  unnecessary. 
Before  TJ  Bi.  inserts  Z's,  but  cf.  12'^. — %,  {u\\y,Ji/ios  et  nepotes. — 23.  (5  may 
be  based  on  |^  :  b'iKa.101.  (Jag.  a-ir-,  for  J§  ai'.si)  irotrjaovcnv  (perh.  Aram.  f2]} 
pass  time,  for  ^  ^dn)  iv  wXovrqi  (||J  ij  la)id,  taken  as  =  iveaWi)  erri  woWd 
(=  J^  3"i),  &81K01.  S^  (free  rendering  of  ^  Z'^\  to  bring  out  contrast  with 
SiKaioL)  aTroXovvrai  ( =  p?  nsDj)  ffwrdfiu^  (perh.  free  rendering  of  |^  nS^ 
t33!rc,  possibly  =  BS*nB,  omitting  nS^).  ^  =  (@,  except  that  in  *  it  has  periph- 
rasis for  poor  instead  of  righteous,  and  renders  ^  Vox  by  naiN,  and  in  ^  also 
has  nais,  which,  however,  may  be  scribal  error  for  nax  (Pink.).  The  Vrss. 
appear  thus  to  support  the  text  of  |^,  but  furnish  no  suggestions  for  its 
emendation.  —  Frank,  reads  ay^^'i  for  f§  ai'Ni,  and  takes  r;  as  =  wealth  ;  this 
latter  is  here  hard,  and  the  resulting  couplet  is  unsatisfactory.  On  tr^  see 
BDB.  —  24.  1^  iDp  i-inr,  'Z'  with  two  objects,  as  aip,  2  K.  19^2.  the  suff. 
refers  to  the  son,  not  (Ew.  al.')  to  '?:.  —  ©  eTrt/xeXcDs  TratSei^et,  probably  not 
reading  no^o  (Pink.),  but  taking  "y  as  =  seek  carefully,  and  rendering  the 
phrase  according  to  Grk.  idiom  (as  RV.  according  to  Eng.  idiom).     This 


280  PROVERBS 

incorrect  rendering  of  in'i'  is  found  in  S  (which  =  (@,  except  that  it  expresses 
the  suff.)  ©  (aipD)  IL  (insianter)  and  an  anonymous  Grk.  Vrs.  {opdpL^u,  in 
Field),  and  is  obviously  due  to  a  supposed  derivation  of  this  stem  from  -\n;:' 
dawn  (so  Saad.  Rashi).  — Gratz  suggests  noiD  n-jnao  corrects  him  in  {his) 
youth,  but  the  change  is  unnecessary.  —  25.  pj  p3;  (5  fvxal,  perh.  by 
assimilation  to  ^  '2  being  usually  rendered  in  <!l  by  KOiXia  (so  'ASGE^H 
here);   S^TS"  did  (Heb.  riD,  Jer.  si^*) ;   IL  iw/Z^r. 

XIV.  1.  Wisdom  and  folly  in  the  home. 

The  Heb.  text  is  in  disorder,  and  the  proper  form  is  doubtful. 
The  Received  Text  reads : 

The  wise  among  women  build  (every  one)  her  house, 
But  folly  with  her  hands  tears  it  down. 

The  improbable  collocation  of  concrete  and  abstract  (wise  and 
/o//y)  may  be  got  rid  of  by  slight  changes  of  text,  as  by  reading, 
in  first  cl.,  f/ie  wisdom  of  women  (so  many  recent  expositors),  or, 
in  second  cl.,  the  foolish  (Anc.  Vrss.  RV.).  In  all  these  readings 
the  reference  is  to  the  wife  as  manager  of  household  affairs,  as  in 
2jio-3i^  where,  indeed,  as  to  her  acts  she  is  called  capable,  and 
wise  in  her  words  only,  but  the  difference  is  not  significant.  Else- 
where in  OT.  the  epithet  wise,  used  of  women,  indicates  sagacity 
(Ju.  5^^  2  S.  14"  20^^"),  artistic  skill  (Ex.  35"^^),  or  the  profession 
of  mourner  (Jer.  9^*^*"^).  The  sense  may  thus  here  be  :  it  is  the 
wisdom  of  the  wife  especially  that  secures  the  prosperity  of  the 
household.  This  interpretation,  however,  assigns  the  wife  a  role 
which  is  more  important  than  is  indicated  elsewhere  in  Pr.,  and  is 
in  itself  not  probable  —  the  man  is  in  OT.  the  more  important 
person  of  the  family.  A  simpler  statement  of  the  general  effi- 
ciency of  the  housewife  may  be  gained  by  further  changes  of  the 
text,  with  the  resultant  reading  : 

A  wise  woman  builds  her  house, 

A  foolish  woman  with  her  hands  tears  it  down. 

Builds  her  house  =  builds  up  her  household.  —  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  (as  9^  24"  suggest)  the  word  zvomen  of  the  present  text 
\s  a  gloss  on  the  plu.  adj.  wise,  and  should  be  omitted.  If,  fur- 
ther, we  change  wise  to  wisdom  and  omit  the  unnecessary  ex- 
pression with  her  hands,  we  have  the  rendering : 


XIV.  1-3  28 1 

Wisdom  builds  the  house, 
Folly  tears  it  down. 

The  statement  then  is  that  wisdom  is  constructive,  folly  destruc- 
tive, of  the  family  and  the  best  life.  The  objection  to  this  emen- 
dation is  that  wisdom  and  folly  are  not  personified  elsewhere  in 
chs.  10-29  j  ^"  isolated  case  might,  however,  occur. — The  word 
wotnen  being  omitted,  the  first  line  of  this  couplet  is  identical 
with  first  line  of  9^  from  which  it  may  have  been  taken,  and  a  dif- 
ferent meaning  given  it.  Or  the  expression  may  have  been  a 
common  one  in  gnomic  discourse,  and  may  have  been  employed 
by  different  writers  in  different  senses. 

2.  Identity  of  integrity  and  piety. 

He  whose  life  is  upright  fears  Yahweh, 
But  he  whose  ways  are  wicked  despises  him. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  Lit.  he  who  walks 
in  his  uprightness  (but  the  his  should  be  omitted),  and  he  who  is 
wicked  (crooked)  in  his  ways.  That  is,  the  good  man  shows  by 
his  conduct  that  he  reverences  God  who  demands  uprightness, 
while  the  bad  man  practically  sets  him  at  defiance.  —  Subject  and 
predicate  may  be  reversed,  so  as  to  read  :  He  who  feai's  Yahweh 
is  upright  .  .  .  he  who  despises  him  is  dad,  and  the  resulting  sense 
is  substantially  the  same  as  before.  The  first  translation  defines 
moral  conduct  by  the  man's  relation  to  God,  the  second  defines 
the  man's  attitude  toward  God  by  his  moral  conduct.  The  first 
is  perhaps  favored  by  the  Hebrew  order  of  words.  —  On  wicked 
(=  crooked,  "BN .  pe?-verse)  see  note  on  2^^. 

3.  Discretion  in  speech.  —  The  couplet  reads  in  our  Heb.  text : 

In  the  mouth  of  the  fool  is  a  sprig  of  pride, 
But  the  lips  of  the  wise  preserve  them. 

Implicit  antithesis,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  The  word 
rendered  sprig  occurs  elsewhere  in  OT.  only  in  Isa.  11',  where  it 
signifies  a  small  branch  shooting  from  the  stock  of  a  tree ;  here 
the  branch  of  pride  springs  from  its  stem  in  the  fool's  mouth. 
The  line  simply  characterizes  the  fool's  language  as  proud ;  but, 
as  second  cl.  declares  the  preservative  effect  of  wise  speech,  we 


282  PROVERBS 

may  probably  infer  that  some  effect  of  foolish  proud  speech  is 
implied  in  first  cl.,  and  this  effect,  according  to  the  parallelism  in 
the  present  Heb.  text,  touches  the  fool  himself — pride  harms  or 
destroys  him  (as  in  ii^  i6^*  29^).  It  may  be  a  question  whether 
we  should  not  omit  the  them  in  second  cl.,  and  interpret :  "  the 
fool's  words  are  proud  (insolent  toward  others),  but  the  words  of 
the  wise  are  helpful  (preservative  of  others)."  This  would  accord 
better  with  the  function  ascribed  in  Pr.  to  utterance.  —  The  Anc. 
Vrss.,  instead  of  sp?'ig,  have  goad  or  rod.  If  this  translation  be 
adopted,  we  may  regard  the  rod  of  pride  as  wounding  others  (Syr. 
Targ.  Ew.  Str.  and  perhaps  Grk.),  or  as  a  scourge  to  the  fool  him- 
self (De.  Reuss,  Zock.),  =  a  rod  for  pride  (Kamp.)  ;  Hitzig  (by 
a  change  of  text)  :  a  rod  for  his  back  (cf.  26^,  where,  however, 
the  word  rendered  rod  is  different).  But  the  translation  rod  is 
doubtful,  and  the  expression  is  not  quite  natural.  The  rendering 
insolence  (Earth)  instead  of  sprig  (or,  rod')  is  not  probable. — 
Elsewhere  the  lips  of  the  wise  are  said  to  give  food  (10-^),  to  dis- 
pense knowledge  (15'),  or  to  keep  knowledge  (5^),  here  to  save 
(cf.  10'').  As  the  Heb.  verb  is  sing.,  De.  would  assume  wisdom 
as  subject  {the  lips  of  the  wise,  wisdom  preserves  them),  but  this  is 
violent  and  unnecessary ;  it  is  easier  to  take  the  verb  as  plural.  — 
The  proverb,  like  many  others,  assumes  the  identity  of  speech 
and  thought,  and  enjoins  prudence  in  words. 

4.  Importance  of  the  ox  for  the  farmer.  —  Antithetic,  binary. 
The  Heb.  text  may  perhaps  be  translated  (as  in  RV.)  : 

Where  there  are  no  oxen  the  crib  is  clean, 

But  abundance  of  produce  comes  by  the  strength  of  the  ox. 

This  form,  however,  does  not  offer  a  good  contrast  in  the  clauses 
—  we  expect:  "  no  oxen,  no  produce";  the  rendering  if/^««  (in 
a  physical  sense)  is  doubtful  (elsewhere,  except  Cant.  6^  the 
word  means  "morally  pure,"  Job  11*  \p  24^  etc.),*  and,  in  any 
case,  the  sense  required  is  not  clean,  but  empty,  a  meaning  that 
the  Heb.  term  never  has  ;  nor  would  it  be  necessary  to  say  that 

*  On  the  use  of  the  word  in  Cant.  69  see  the  Comms.  of  Budde  (in  Marti)  and 
Siegfried  (in  Nowack).  In  >P  i8'-"(2i)  (=28.  2221)  the  corresponding  noun  is  em- 
ployed to  describe  the  hands,  but  as  a  figure  of  moral  purity. 


XIV.  3-6  283 

where  there  are  no  oxen  the  crib  is  clean.  A  slight  change  of 
text  gives  for  the  first  hne  the  rendering  : 

Where  there  are  no  oxen  there  is  no  corn. 

In  the  second  line  we  should  expect :  "  many  oxen,  much  prod- 
uce," a  statement  that  may  be  got  from  the  present  text,  since  the 
strength  ( —  working  power)  of  oxen  is  in  proportion  to  their 
number ;  the  precise  statement  is  that  the  crops  depend  on  the 
ox,  the  animal  used  in  ploughing.  —  The  couplet  states  a  fact  of 
agricultural  economy  :  a  wise  farmer  will  see  to  it  that  his  oxen 
are  numerous  and  in  good  condition.  Care  of  animals  is  implied, 
but  not  for  their  sake.  The  duty  of  kindness  to  working  animals 
is  enjoined  in  12^°  Dt.  25'*. 

5.  True  and  false  testimony. 

A  trustworthy  witness  does  not  lie, 
But  a  false  witness  utters  lies. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  thought  is  identical  with  that  of  12^'',  on 
which  see  note  ;  the  man  makes  public  affirmation  of  truth  or 
falsehood.  The  proverb  is  aimed  at  the  crime  of  false  testifying 
in  a  court  of  law.     Cf  6^^  14^^  19*. 

6.  Wisdom  comes  only  to  the  serious. 

The  scoffer  seeks  wisdom  and  finds  it  not, 

But  to  the  man  of  understanding  knowledge  is  easy. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  Wisdom  =  knowledge,  acquaint- 
ance with  right  principles  and  methods,  here  especially  in  things 
moral  and  religious.  The  term  scoffer,  as  used  in  Prov.,  while  it 
is  often  a  synonym  of  wicked,  ungodly,  always  contains  the  ele- 
ment of  lack  of  moral  seriousness,  and  generally,  also,  that  of  posi- 
tive opposition  to  truth  ;  it  here  stands  in  contrast  with  the  man 
of  tinderstanding,  that  is,  intellectual  sobriety  and  insight,  based 
on  moral  earnestness.  The  scoffer's  desire  for  wisdom  is  not 
explained  ;  the  sage  means,  we  may  surmise,  that  he  valued  it 
because  it  gave  social  power  and  excited  admiration  —  he  did  not 
love  it  for  its  own  sake,  had  no  real  sympathy  with  it,  and  there- 
fore no  receptivity  for  it  (cf.  2  Tim.  3" :  "ever  learning  and  never 
able  to  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  ").     These  two  classes. 


284  PROVERBS 

here  as  elsewhere  in  Prov.,  are  assumed  as  facts  —  no  attempt  is 
made  to  analyze  the  characters,  to  trace  their  origin,  or  to  suggest 
methods  of  training,  whereby  the  one  may  be  strengthened  and 
the  other  transformed. 

7.    Text  and  meaning  are  uncertain.      The  Hebrew  text  more 
naturally  reads  : 

If  thou  go  from  the  presence  of  a  foolish  man, 
Thou  hast  not  known  lips  of  knowledge. 

The  first  cl.  has  the  Imperative  go,  =  if  thou  go.  If  it  be  taken  as 
a  command  proper,  the  second  cl.  must  be  understood  as  giving 
the  ground  of  the  exhortation  :  go  from  .  .  .  for  thou  hast  not  ob- 
served {in  him),  etc.,  but  this  the  Heb.  does  not  warrant.  The 
same  is  true  of  Saadia's  rendering :  go  from  .  .  .  else  wilt  thou 
not  know.  Some  (Schult.  Ew.  RV.)  translate:  go  into  the  pres- 
ence of,  which  is  allowable,  but  less  probable  (it  does  not,  how- 
ever, change  the  general  sense).  As  the  couplet  stands,  the 
meaning  is  that  a  fool  has  no  knowledge,  and  that  from  inter- 
course with  him  one  gains  nothing.  This  is  an  intelligible  state- 
ment, but  the  form  is  strange,  and  the  phraseology  of  second  cl. 
is  not  natural  —  the  expression  knotv  lips  occurs  nowhere  else, 
and  we  expect  the  explanatory  phrase  in  him  (inserted  by  RV.). 
—  The  Anc.  Vrss.  give  various  turns  to  the  couplet.  Grk.  (with 
several  variations  from  the  Heb.  text)  :  All  things  are  adverse  to 
a  foolish  man,  but  wise  lips  are  weapons  of  discretion,  an  unsatis- 
factory form,  followed  by  Syr.  and  (with  a  slight  modification)  by 
Bickell ;  Targ.  :  Withdraw  into  another  path  from  the  presence  of 
a  fool,  for  there  is  no  knowledge  in  his  lips,  a  simple  and  natural 
sentence,  probably  a  free  translation  of  our  Hebrew  ;  Lat.  :  Go 
into  the  presence  of  a  foolish  inaii,  and  he  knows  not  lips  of  pru- 
dence, in  which  the  verb  knows  (3  pers.  instead  of  2  pers.)  may 
be  the  erroneous  transcription  of  a  Latin  scribe.  —  These  readings 
show  that  there  was  difficulty  in  the  Hebrew  text,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  suggest  a  satisfactory  emendation.  The  second  cl.  might 
be  conformed  to  20^' :  wise  lips  are  a  precious  adornment,  but 
this  stands  in  no  relation  to  the  first  clause,  the  form  of  which  in 
the  Grk.  is  not  probable  ;  after  26^  we  might  read  in  first  cl. : 
there  is  no  honor  to  a  fool,  but  this  has  no  support  from  Versions. 


XIV.  6-8  285 

The  simplest  emendation,  perhaps,  would  be  :  go  from  the  pres- 
ence of  a  fool,  for  his  lips  do  not  titter  knowledge ;  cf.  15". 

8.   Conduct  must  be  carefully  considered.  —  The  couplet  reads 
in  our  Heb.  text : 

The  wisdom  of  a  man  of  sense  consists  in  understanding  (or,  considering)  his 

way, 
The  folly  of  fools  is  deceit. 

Free  or  loose  antithesis,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  The 
first  cl.  gives  the  gist  of  the  practical  philosophy  of  the  sages  :  a 
man  of  good  sense  shows  his  wisdom  not  by  fine  words  and  the- 
ories or  by  boldness  and  display,  but  in  the  capacity  to  consider 
his  actions,  comprehend  their  real  import,  and  choose  that  course 
of  conduct  which  is  best  adapted  to  secure  happiness.  The  wis- 
dom referred  to  is  practical  sagacity ;  there  is  no  mention  of 
moral  or  religious  elements,  though  the  second  cl.  may  perhaps 
suggest  that  these  are  involved.  The  second  cl.  does  not  offer  an 
explicit  contrast  to  the  first.  We  expect  the  statement  that  the 
fool  shows  his  folly  by  the  absence  of  reflection  and  insight  in  the 
direction  of  his  affairs,  instead  of  which  it  is  deceit  that  marks  him 
—  that  is,  craft,  deception  practised  on  others ;  such  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  term  in  Prov.  (see  11^  ^^^^.m-i^a  ^^j,  ^^^  26-*)  and 
throughout  OT.  The  contrast  would  be  obvious  if  we  could  take 
the  word  in  the  sense  of  "self-deception"  (so  Berth.  Ew.  Zock.), 
but  the  usage  seems  not  to  allow  this.  We  may  suppose  that  the 
sage  chooses  to  pass  over  the  obvious  mental  incapacity  of  the 
fool,  to  characterize  him  by  his  moral  procedure,  and  to  stigma- 
tize or  ridicule  this  as  folly  —  folly,  he  may  say,  is  best  shown  in 
craft  and  fraud  ;  or,  reversing  subject  and  predicate,  we  may  un- 
derstand the  line  to  say  that  deceit  is  essentially  folly.  Taking  a 
suggestion  from  the  Grk.,  the  line  may  be  read  : 

The  folly  of  fools  leads  them  astray, 

which  furnishes  a  direct  and  natural  antithesis,  and  should  per- 
haps be  adopted.  It  is  possible  that  the  two  lines  did  not  origi- 
nally stand  together  in  one  couplet. 

XIV.  1.    1^  nbDn,  fern.  plu.  const,  of  Don,  is  improbable  because  of  the  sing, 
vb.  nnj3  and  the  abstr,  sing,  nVix  in  i*;  read  nc^n,  as  in  9^,  on  which  see  note. 


286  PROVERBS 

crj  is  best  omitted  as  gloss  to  adj.  ncDn.  If  a  reference  to  wise  and  foolish 
women  were  intended,  we  should  rather  expect  nc^n  riE'N  (or  ncDn  rti'N)  and 
nSiN.  —  pj  '^T^  though  logically  unnecessary  does  not  mar  the  rhythm  (Bi.). 
On  the  Vrss.  see  note  on  this  v.  above.  —  2.  The  suff .  in  nc'''  may  be  retained, 
as  in  1^  28**  (on  which  see  note),  but  is  better  omitted,  as  in  |§  lo^.  On  n'? 
see  note  on  2^^.  (3  renders  the  vb.  in  ''  by  the  passive,  against  the  parallelism; 
iL  further  makes  one  sentence  of  the  couplet :  ambiilans  recto  itinere  et  timens 
Deum  despicitur  ab  eo  qui  in/ami  graditur  via.  —  3.  TJn  occurs  elsewhere 
only  Isa.  ii^,  where  it  =  shoot,  stem,  or  branch;  the  Heb.  word  may  have  had 
the  meaning  (which  the  word  has  in  Aram.)  rod,  though  that  is  probably  not 
the  sense  here,  and  there  is  no  need  to  regard  our  word  as  Aramaic.  The 
sense  pride  (Barth.,  Etyinol.  Stud.),  though  it  may  have  some  support  from 
Arab,  (laxn  =  'walking  with  a  proud  gait)  is  not  favored  by  Aram,  or  by  the 
connection  here;  cf.  BDB.  — 1§  amCw'n  is  probably  scribal  error  for  anDiiT, 
so  (5  <pvXd(T<T€i  avTo6s;  in  the  similar  forms  in  Ex.  i8-°  Ru.  2^  the  i  may  be 
miswriting  of 'i,  or,  more  probably,  erroneous  scribal  insertion.  —  4.  l^N  is  half- 
poetical  synonym  of  -\'z\  —  The  large  a  is  scribal  accident;  see  note  in  B-D. — 
On  the  first  vowel  in  D3n  see  01s.  §§  87,  175.  The  stem  is  apparently  denom., 
=  furnish  food ;  so  Partcp.  djn,  i  K.  5^  (4'^^)  Pr.  15I',  provided  with  food, 
fatted,  and  subst.  D^sr:,  Jer.  50-®,  a  place  where  food  is  kept.  But  for  D3N  here 
we  should  probably  read  D^s',  taking  i3  as  =  corn.  —  On  the  Mas.  pointing  of 
12  see  Buxt.  Coin.  Crit.  —  6.  <&  fTyrijo-fis  (rocpiav  irapa  KaKO?s,  —  'n  Dx'^a  ti'pa, 
which  accords  less  well  than  |§  with  t^.  —  ^nj  is  Nif.  Partcp.  or  Perf.  of  SSp, 
masc.  by  poetic  license,  the  subj.  Py-i  being  fem.  —  7.  '^  iJJC  is  here  more 
naturally  y;-£iw.  —  pv'i'  may  be  taken  as  general  Present,  but,  after  Impv.  ^S 
we  expect  Imperf.  —  (g  irdvTa,  =  'r-j  (for  ||J  i'^),  and  8ir\a,  —  •'Sd  (for  }^  S2). 
In  b  we  may  perhaps  read:  r;T  vrot-  (or,  inD^  nri  n"^  i;.  —  8.  "^  pn;  Bi.  ]2; 
(5  itTLyvdxreTai,  =  |3",  or  it  may  be  free  rendering  of  J§.  —  pj  n:;-\r:;  (5  iv 
irXdvri,  perhaps  free  rendering  of  ^,  perhaps  =  n';nr,  a  reading  better  than 
that  of  |§.  —  IL  =  p? ;   S  seems  to  be  affected  by  (g. 

9.   Text  and  translation  are  doubtful.      The  natural  rendering 
of  the  Hebrew  is  : 

The  guilt-offering  (or,  guilt)  mocks  fools. 
But  among  the  upright  there  is  good-will. 

The  second  cl.  is  clear.  Good-will  may  be  divine  or  human,  but 
in  the  former  case  the  divine  name  is  expressed,  as  in  11^  12-  15* 
18-^  al. ;  here  the  meaning  must  be  that  among  upright  men  there 
is  kind  feeling  toward  one  another,  or  (with  a  slight  change  of 
text),  that  the  upright  obtain  the  favor  of  other  men,  that  is,  are 
prosperous.  —  The  subject  of  second  cl.  {asham)  is  susceptible  of 
two  renderings,  both  difficult  in  the  connection.  The  representa- 
tion of  the  sacrifice  as  mocking  the  sacrificer  is  unexampled  — 


XIV.  9-IO  287 

elsewhere  if  is  God  who  hates  and  rejects  the  formal  offerings  of 
bad  and  unrepentant  men  (Am.  5^^  Isa.  i")  ;  and  the  verb  here 
used  is  never  elsewhere  employed  in  connection  with  sacrifice. 
Further,  the  employment  of  the  specific  term  guilt-offering 
(which,  in  the  later  ritual,  was  confined  to  particular  offences, 
Lev.  5.  6.  19",  RV.  trespass-offering^  would  be  somewhat  strange. 
If  the  object  had  been  to  say  that  God  does  not  accept  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  unrighteous,  it  would  seem  that  a  different  phrase 
would  have  been  chosen.  The  rendering  guilt  mocks  fools  (Ew.) 
is  not  natural.  Sin  is  said  (Num.  32-'^),  by  its  consequences,  to 
reach  men,  find  them  out  (Ew.  compares  the  Grk.  Nemesis),  but 
the  sort  of  personification  involved  in  mocks  is  violent  and  with- 
out example.  Nor  is  the  rendering  fools  mock  at  guilt  (RV.) 
more  satisfactory;  it  is  not  at  guilt,  but  at  sin  (AV.)  that  bad 
men  may  be  supposed  to  mock,  but  the  Heb.  word  is  not  a  nat- 
ural expression  for  sin.  None  of  these  translations  exhibit  a  rela- 
tion of  thought  between  the  two  clauses,  except  by  means  of  a 
forced  paraphrase,  as  :  "  the  offering  mockingly  leaves  fools  unac- 
cepted, but  the  upright  do  not  mock  one  another  (or,  need  no  ex- 
piatory offering  one  from  another)";  or,  "fools  insolently  laugh 
at  the  guilt  which  their  wrong-doing  incurs,  and  thus  bring  hatred 
on  themselves,  while  among  the  upright  there  is  that  kindness 
which  is  the  natural  product  of  well-doing." — Grk.  (followed  by 
Syr. )  :  the  houses  of  transgressors  will  owe  ( =  will  owe  the  law, 
will  need)  purification,  but  the  houses  of  the  righteous  are  accept- 
able (that  is,  to  God  and  man)  ;  Targ. :  fools  speak  in  parables  of 
sin,  but  a?nofig  the  upright  is  favor ;  Lat.  as  AV.  Natural  forms  of 
the  couplet  would  be  : 

Fools  incur  guilt, 

Good  men  have  the  favor  of  God; 
or : 

Fools  suffer  misfortune, 

Good  men  are  prosperous. 

The  clauses  may  be  displaced ;  the  original  reading  of  first  cl.  is 
lost.     For  antitheses  to  the  clauses  see  ii^'^  15^ 

10.   The  Received  text  is  to  be  translated  : 

Every  heart  knows  its  own  sorrow. 
And  no  other  shares  its  joy. 


288  PROVERBS 

Formal  antithesis,  with  identity  of  thought,  quaternary-ternary 
(or,  ternary).  Lit.:  the  heart  knoivs  its  otun  bitterness,  and  no 
stranger,  etc.  Heart  =  not  the  emotional  nature,  but  simply 
man.  A  simple  statement  of  the  familiar  fact  that  every  man  in 
his  deeper  feeling  stands  alone.  All  experiences  are  included, 
but  there  is  no  special  reference  to  moral  or  religious  emotion ; 
rather  (since  no  religious  of  ethical  term  is  used)  it  is  the  com- 
mon, everyday  experience  that  is  mainly  contemplated.  This 
statement  of  psychological  isolation  is  not  at  all  in  conflict  with 
the  natural  obligation  of  sympathy  with  others,  as  expressed,  for 
example,  in  Rom.  12^^.  For  similar  proverbs  among  other  nations 
see  Malan.  In  Eng.  :  "every  man  knows  where  the  shoe  pinches." 
—  Bickell,  on  the  ground  that  isolation  is  natural  to  sorrow,  but 
not  to  joy,  omits  the  negative  in  second  cl.,  and  reads  :  others 
share  its  Joy ;  but  the  universality  of  the  Heb.  text  seems  prefer- 
able. The  Anc.  Vrss.  have  the  negative.  As  second  line  the  Grk. 
has  :  and  when  he  rejoices,  he  has  no  fellowship  with  (or,  there  is 
no  mingling  of)  pride,  in  accordance  with  which  the  couplet 
might  be  rendered  : 

Every  man  knows  his  sorrow, 

And  (therefore)  with  his  joy  no  pride  is  mingled; 

that  is,  the  remembrance  of  sorrow  makes  one  modest  and  mod- 
erate in  times  of  prosperity  and  joy  (see,  on  the  other  hand,  BS. 
11^).  This  is  a  proper  sentiment,  but  (even  after  the  change  of 
stranger  to  pride')  the  construction  {when  one  knows,  etc.,  then, 
etc.)  is  not  naturally  suggested  by  the  Hebrew.  Cf.,  however, 
v."^  of  this  chapter.  —  To  the  form  of  the  Heb.  it  has  been  ob- 
jected that  the  idea  of  emotional  isolation  is  foreign  to  the 
thought  of  Prov. ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  is  a  less  probable 
conception  for  the  sages  than  that  of  the  Greek. 

11.   The  good  endure,  the  bad  pass  away. 

The  house  of  the  wicked  will  be  destroyed, 
But  the  tent  of  the  upright  will  flourish. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  House  =  tent,  =  dwelling-place,  including  the 
family-life,  and  the  fortunes  in  general.  The  word  tent  is  a  sur- 
vival from  the  old  nomadic  time ;   the  old  rallying-cry  was  :   "  to 


XIV.  IO-I3  ■  289 

your  tents,  O  Israel !"  (2  Sam.  20'  i  K.  12^^).  On  the  doctrine 
of  permanence  and  impermanence  see  notes  on  i^--^  al. 

12.  Vice  is  a  road  that  leads  to  death. 

There  is  a  way  that  seems  straight  to  a  man, 
But  the  end  of  it  is  the  road  to  death. 

Ternary-binary.  Identity  in  subject,  antithesis  in  predicate,  =  "a 
way  seemingly  straight,  but  really  fatal  "  ;  or,  complete  antithesis, 
=  "  the  beginning  of  the  way  is  straight,  the  end  of  it  is  death." 
The  figure  is  that  of  a  journey,  in  which  the  traveller  imagines 
that  he  is  pursuing  a  straight  path  that  will  lead  him  to  his 
desired  goal  of  success  and  happiness,  but  finds,  too  late,  that  it 
leads  to  earthly  death,  that  is,  to  the  destruction  of  happiness. 
The  substitution  of  the  ethical  term  right  (RV.)  for  straight  zki-^Xi- 
dons  the  figure.  The  thought  of  the  proverb  is  the  illusive  char- 
acter of  an  immoral  hfe  :  it  seems  to  promise  wealth,  power, 
happiness,  while  its  inevitable  issue  is  destruction  —  wickedness 
fails,  righteousness  succeeds;  see  2--  5^-^  'f  9^^  10^  al. ;  the 
couplet  occurs  again  at  16^'.  The  process  or  method  of  delusion 
is  not  described.  In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  plur.  ways  (or, 
roads).  If  the  text  be  correct  (we  should  perhaps  read  sing., 
with  Targ.),  the  plur.  is  poetic  conception  of  the  road  as  consist- 
ing of  numerous  paths  ;  it  is  not  intended  to  indicate  that  immo- 
rality leads  by  many  paths  to  death,  while  to  hfe  there  is  one  way 
only ;  against  this  interpretation  is  the  sing,  way  in  first  cl.  (cf. 
Mt.  y^'^").  Grk.  :  the  end  of  it  goes  into  the  depths  of  Hades. 
There  is  no  reference  to  punishment  in  the  other  world.  On  end 
see  note  on  5^. 

13.  Alternation  of  joy  and  sorrow  in  human  life. 

Even  in  laughter  the  heart  may  be  sad, 
And  the  end  of  joy  may  be  sorrow. 

Identical  parallelism,  binary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  The  text  may 
be  rendered  :  .  .  .  the  heart  is  sad  .  .  .  the  end  .  .  .  is  sorrow. 
The  proverb  will  then  say  that  joy  always  passes  into  sorrow,  a 
pessimistic  utterance,  hardly  in  place  in  this  Book.  Nor  does  the 
sage  mean  to  say  that  there  is  a  deep-lying  sadness  in  the  human 
u 


290  PROVERBS 

soul  which  springs  from  a  sense  of  the  vanity  of  Ufe  (De.).  This 
is  a  conception  found  nowhere  else  in  OT.,  not  even  in  Eccles., 
in  which,  while  life  is  regarded  as  vanity,  there  is  no  distinct  refer- 
ence to  a  universal  sense  of  failure ;  the  OT.  generally  looks  on 
life  as  a  good  gift  of  God,  and  expects,  by  the  divine  blessing,  to 
find  it  full  of  joy  (3^*  5^'^  ^  16").  Nor,  as  Reuss  remarks,  can 
there  be  reference  here  to  a  pervading  sense  of  sin  as  the  cause 
of  sadness ;  this  conception  also  is  foreign  to  OT.  (and  to  NT.  as 
well,  Mt.  63*  Rom.  la^'  Phil.  4*  Eph.  s^"  Jno.  14^)..  The  verse 
probably  speaks  of  the  alternations  of  ordinary  experiences,  and 
the  mixed  nature  of  emotions,  and  doubtless  means  to  suggest 
that  men  should  not  be  surprised  at  the  occurrence  of  these  alter- 
nations, or  yield  themselves  irrationally  to  either  sort  of  emotion 
(cf.  v.^").  The  assertion  of  Eccl.  f",  that  sorrow  is  better  than 
laughter,  represents  a  different  conception  of  Hfe. 

14.  Deeds  determine  fortune. 

The  bad  man  reaps  the  fruit  of  his  acts, 

The  good  man  (enjoys  the  outcome)  of  his  <  deeds.' 

Antithesis  of  subject,  ternary-binary.  Lit. :  From  his  ways  the 
bad  man  is  sated,  ajid  fj-om  himself  the  good  man.  Instead  of  the 
improbable  frojn  himself  we  may  read,  by  the  insertion  of  one 
letter,  from  his  deeds  (Grk.  from  his  thoughts)  ;  to  take  the  Heb. 
expression  as  meaning  that  the  good  man  finds  sufficient  reward 
in  his  inward  experiences  would  be  against  the  manner  of  thought 
of  Prov.,  which  everywhere  contemplates  outward  recompense ; 
cf.  Isa.  3'*'.  In  first  cl.  the  subject  is  lit.  he  who  in  mind  turtis 
aside  (that  is,  from  the  path  of  right)  =  the  disobedient  or  wicked 
or  bad  man  (Zeph.  i^  \\i  44'^*'^')  ;  RV.  backslider  conveys  the 
wrong  impression  of  an  apostate,  one  who  declines  from  or  aban- 
dons his  own  previous  position  of  moral  right ;  the  Hebrew  ex- 
pression here  impHes  simply  non-adherence  to  the  right.  On 
good  see  note  on  13";  on  the  doctrine  of  the  verse  cf.  2*^"  «/., 
Gal.  6'. 

15,  16.  Necessity  of  thoughtfulness  and  prudence.     Cf.  22^ 

(=271^0- 

15.    The  simpleton  believes  every  word, 

But  the  man  of  sense  takes  heed  to  his  step. 


XIV.  1 3-1 6  291 

16.    The  wise  man  is  cautious,  and  avoids  misfortune, 
But  the  fool  is  arrogant  and  contident. 

15.  Explicit  antithesis  of  subject,  implicit  antithesis  of  predicate, 
ternary.  Simpleton  is  the  person  untrained,  unformed  intellectu- 
ally (i''  22^  Ez.  45-°  i/'  19"'''')  or  morally  (i''^  9®)  ;  the  term  is  here 
used  in  the  former  sense,  in  contrast  with  the  thoughtful,  prudent 
man.  The  point  of  view  of  i  Cor.  13'  is  different:  love  has  a 
largeminded,  though  not  blind,  trust  in  men  ;  the  simpleton  is 
credulous,  the  man  of  love  is  sympathetic.  — 16.  Antithetic,  ter- 
nary. The  reference,  as  in  the  preceding  verse,  is  to  intellectual 
qualities  —  such  is  the  intimation  of  second  clause.  Is  cautious  ; 
lit.  fears.  Misfortune  {ox,  harm)  is  lit.  ez'il,  a  term  used  in  OT. 
in  the  widest  sense.  In  second  cl.  the  first  adj.  is  lit.  passing 
beyond  bounds  ;  the  verb  usually  =  to  be  angry  (Dt.  3"*'  \\i  ^g^''"'^ "- 
gg:!8(39)^^  and  the  Partcp.  in  26^^^  ^=  g^t  excited,  get  into  a  passion  ; 
for  the  meaning  arrogant  (which  is  suggested  by  the  synonym 
confident)  see  the  corresponding  substantive  in  11-^  21^'*  Isa,  16" 
Jer.  48™.  Other  proposed  renderings  are  presumptuous,  insolent, 
passionately  excited.  —  In  first  cl.  if  fears  had  been  meant  in  a 
religious  sense,  the  divine  name  would  have  been  added  ;  see  3' 
14-  31^",  and  cf.  i"  8'^  16®  22*  al.  The  word  here  =  "is  appre- 
hensive (of  men  and  things)  and  on  his  guard."  The  predicates 
may  be  written  :  cautiously  avoids  and  is  arrogantly  confident. 
Instead  of  arrogafit  the  Grk.  has  mingles  with,  and  Frank,  renders  : 

The  wise  man  guards  himself  anxiously  against  evil, 
But  the  fool  lightly  takes  part  therein, 

evil  being  taken  as  =  wicked  conduct.  The  context  (v,^'^-  '''•  '*) 
favors  the  translation  given  above. 

9.  1^  x^"",  ©  d(t>eL\r)(Tov<nv.  perh.  =  some  form  of  2n.  In  "^  (5  has  ot'/ci'at 
(no)  for  1^  ]^'2,  and  it  introduces  this  word  in  ^;  the  resulting  couplet  is  intelli- 
gible, but  not  probable.  A  simpler  reading,  based  on  (5,  would  be :  I3n^  dVin 
]i-y  :3-)-i'^^i  D'i'X;  this  assumes  that  the  |i->  exists,  for  the  upright,  without  OB'S*. 
—  3C  read  Y^\  but  renders  it  by  I'^nr,  taking  the  stem  in  the  sense  speak  in 
parables.  —  Lag.  changes  (§  Kadapicr/jLov  to  Kadv^piaixbv,  and  gives  as  Heb. 
text  of  (5  :  nii'j  ni"''?D  SmvV.  See  Baum.  —  S  has  two  forms  of  the  couplet,  one 
=  (§,  the  other  nearer  to  |^;  the  second  reads:  fools  commit  (i3>')  sin,  but 
the  sons  ('J3  for  ||J  p3)  etc.;  for  i"'^''  it  had,  perhaps,  some  form  of  '^^>"  (hardly 
a  form  of  y^'f).     Gratz,  )'["';    Frank.  DC\s  ■^^  'ik  j^i.  but  the  '^^  is  hardly  apno- 


292 


PROVERBS 


site.  — 10.  1^  T;  (S  i^jSp")  =  ?'i.!)  adopted  by  Frank.;  see  note  on  this  v. 
above.  The  suff.  in  innDtr  might  then  be  omitted.  — 11.  |^  niD'';  (g  ffri]- 
(Tovrai;  Gr.  suggests  niT"  have  free  space.  —  '^nx,  in  Heb.  tent;  thence,  in 
Arab.,  fa?nily,  people;  of.  Ass.  alu,  =  city.  — 12.  f§  idti;  probably  to  be 
read,  with  ®,  sing.  — 13.  For  |§  a"?  2iO''  Gr.  proposes  yS  3N3\  —  |ij  nmnN 
nnn^r;  the  n  is  probably  not  anticipatory  suffix  (though  it  may  have  been 
added  by  an  Aramaic-speaking  scribe,  see  13*),  and  is  not  to  be  prefixed,  as 
art.,  to  following  word  (which  would  be  against  the  usage  of  Pr.),  but  is  better 
deleted  as  scribal  inadvertence.  —  Before  verb  of  "  (5  inserts  the  neg.,  which 
may  be  the  slip  of  a  scribe  (Lag.),  or  may  come  from  v.^",  or  from  an  altered 
Heb.  text.  S  attaches  suff.  to  7\r\-oz'.  — 14.  |^  iVj'p;  read  i'j''?>'Dp  (De.  Str. 
Kamp.).  On  (§  StavoTj/idTwi/  (hardly  =  Ti'?'?yi:,  possibly  v'?;',  taken  as  =  what 
is  in  hint)  see  Capp.  Crit.  4,  17.  6,  Buxt.  Anticrit.  579,  Jag.  Lag.  Baum.;  on 
%  cf.  Pinkuss.  For  the  combination  of  tit  and  '?V;'C  see  Ju.  2^^  Hos.  4^  Jer.  4^^ 
l^^io  ^2^^  Ez.  3621  Zech.  I*-^  al.  — 15.  |i?  Tid;  (H  &KaKos,  ignorant  of  evil, 
simpleminded  in  good  sense;  and,  on  other  hand,  (§  iravovpyos  takes  D"iy  in 
bad  sense.  In  (§'',  Travovp-yos  8k  epxerai  eU  ixerdvoiav,  it  is  not  clear  what 
Heb.  is  represented  by  eh  /uer.;  Jag.  IDU'n'?;  Schl.,  =  |^;  Held.,  7\2Z'V>?. 
Si®  take  ^  ^-\^'ii  as  from  -\Vi>.  good  fortune  ;  IL  gressus  is  preferable.  —  IL  adds 
the  couplet  given  in  (5  13°.  — 16.  |^  la^inD  is  read  by  (g  (followed  by  ^SCi 
Frank.)  as  aijjnn  (Capp.  Crit.,  4,  7.  3),  dud/xo:  being  addition  of  translator; 

17,  18.   Good  sense  versus  irascibility  and  stupidity. 

17.  A  quick-tempered  man  acts  foolishly. 
But  a  wise  man  i  endures.' 

18.  Simpletons  come  into  possession  of  folly, 
But  men  of  sense  ^  acquire  '  knowledge. 

17.  Antithetic,  ternary.  In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has :  and  a 
schemer  (or,  a  inan  of  wicked  devices)  is  hated.  According  to 
this  reading  the  proverb  compares  two  bad  dispositions  by  their 
outcome  and  by  the  impression  they  make  on  men.  The  quick- 
tempered man  (he  who  is  easily  angered,  RV.  soon  angry)  often 
acts  foohshly,  and  thus  loses  the  respect  of  his  fellows ;  the  ma- 
licious  plotter,  on  the  other  hand,  is  hated.  But  a  better  contrast 
is  obtained  if  (by  the  omission  of  one  Heb.  letter)  we  read  (with 
the  Grk.)  a  man  of  thottght  endures,  bears  much  without  getting 
angry.  The  verb  bear,  endure  is  used  absolutely  in  Isa.  i'*  46'* 
Jer.  44-2  (and  cf.  Pr.  19'^).  In  the  subj.  of  second  cl.  the  term 
thought  (or,  schemes,  plans)  may  be  understood  in  a  good  sense 
(hence  wise  man),  or  in  a  bad  sense  (hence  ivicked  plotter)  ;   see 


XIV.  I7-20  293 

note  on  the  word  in  i* ;  it  is  understood  by  all  Anc.  Vrss.  except 
Lat.  in  tlie  good  sense.  The  antithesis  is  chiastic  :  angry  is  con- 
trasted with  endures,  and  foolish  with  wise.  — 18.  Antithetic,  ter- 
nary. Simpleton,  as  in  v.'\  In  first  cl.  the  verb  should  not  be 
rendered  by  inherit  (RV,),  which  may  suggest  the  incorrect  inter- 
pretation that  the  silly,  unformed  man  falls  heir  to  folly  without 
effort,  while  the  man  of  reflection  or  good  sense  acquires  knowl- 
edge only  by  exertion ;  the  proverb  affirms  merely  that  a  thought- 
less person  is  ignorant  and  foolish,  while  a  man  who  understands 
the  needs  of  life  gains  knowledge. — The  translation  in  second  cl. 
are  crotvned  with  knowledge,  or,  wear  knowledge  as  a  crown,* 
while  it  gives  the  same  general  sense  as  that  of  the  emendation 
here  adopted,  is  lexicographically  doubtful. 

19.  Triumph  of  goodness. 

The  bad  bow  liefore  the  good, 

And  the  wicked  at  the  gates  of  the  righteous. 

Identical  parallehsm,  ternary.  In  second  cl.  we  may  supply  some 
such  verb  as  stand  suppliant.  The  adjectives  are  all  to  be  under- 
stood in  the  ethical  sense.  The  form  of  expression  is  taken  from 
Oriental  custom  :  the  inferior  prostrates  himself  before  the  supe- 
rior, or  waits  humbly  at  the  great  man's  gate  to  implore  his  favor. 
The  doctrine  (based  on  belief  in  the  immediate  intervention  of 
God)  that  moral  goodness  must  in  this  life  triumph  externally 
over  wickedness  was  held  by  Jewish  philosophy  till  it  accepted 
the  broader  doctrine  of  ethical  immortality  (VVisd.  Sol.  2-5). 

20,  21.   Evils  and  claims  of  poverty.  —  Antithetic,  ternary. 

20.  The  poor  man  is  hated  even  by  his  neighbor, 
But  the  rich  has  many  friends. 

21.  He  who  despises  his  neighbor  sins, 

But  he  who  has  pity  on  the  poor,  happy  is  he, 

20.  Neighbor  is  any  one  who  stands  in  close  social  relations,  from 
whom,  therefore,  sympathy  may  be  expected  (Lu.  lo'^'').  Hated 
is  probably  to  be  taken  literally,  =  "  detested  "  as  a  troublesome 
and  obstructive  person  ;    possibly,   however,  =  "  relatively  disre- 

*  Theod.  Targ.  Saad.  Rashi,  Luth.  RV.  Schult.  De  Wette,  Noyes,  Reuss,  De. 
Kamp.  Frank,  at. 


294  PROVERBS 

garded  "  (cf.  Lu.  14^'''  with  Mt.  10''').  The  second  cl,  is  Ut. :  the 
lovers  of  the  rich  are  uiany.  The  proverb  states,  without  com- 
ment, a  universal  social  fact.  —  21.  Neighbor,  as  in  the  preceding 
verse,  only  he  is  here  a  person  to  whom  sympathy  is  due,  and  it 
is  assumed  that  he  is  poor;  despise  (=  contemptuously  neglect 
and  repel)  is  substantially  hate.  The  first  cl.,  thus,  passes  judg- 
ment on  the  coldhearted  "  neighbor  "  of  v,-",  declaring  that  he 
sins  against  the  law  of  God  (see  notes  on  i^"  8^®).  The  parallel- 
ism of  the  two  proverbs  points  to  the  rendering  poor  (RV.)  in 
second  cl.  (=  physically  poor),  though  the  Heb.  word  may  also 
mean  afflicted,  sufferiftg  in  a  general  sense  (De.  Kamp.  al.).  —  As 
he  who  despises  the  poor  sins  against  God,  so  he  who  is  kind  to 
him  is  happy  (not  in  the  consciousness  of  well-doing,  but)  in  the 
favor  of  God,  who  will  reward  such  beneficence.  Here  we  see 
the  starting-point  for  the  later  view  (Dan.  4^*'^'')  that  almsgiving 
has  expiatory  efficacy,  and  for  the  use  of  righteousness  as  =  alms- 
giving (Mt.  6'). 

17.  |§  TDTD  C'N  is  taken  in  good  sense  by  the  Vrss.,  except  03L.  — 1§  i^ya^; 
(5  vTro(p4pei;  read  NU'i;  Hi.  ]i<s;>  is  quiet ;  Ew.,  against  the  usage,  NVi"  (=  nir^) 
hears  himself  quietly,  endures  (he  refers  to  ■^  131^).  IL  =  |^.  On  ^  (=  (5) 
see  Pink.  ®  paraphrases  |^,  only  taking  'o  in  good  sense,  and  Nr-"  as  Qal, 
making  subj.  in  "•  the  same  as  in  ^.  — 18.  For  |§  tipd^  neither  the  Heb. 
meaning  surround  (as  =  get  possession  of,  cf.  Ez.  ai^^)  nor  the  Aram,  wait 
for  (Job  36^)  is  here  appropriate.  The  denom.  sense,  from  1.^3  crown 
(favored  by  a  large  number  of  authorities,  ancient  and  modern)  is  more 
appropriate;  but  this  use,  which  occurs  nowhere  else,  is  of  doubtful  correct- 
ness, nor  does  it  furnish  an  exact  or  specially  apt  antithesis  to  the  i^nj  of  *. 
The  term  for  crown  in  Pr.  (4^  12*  142*  16^^  176)  is  ma;?;  the  noun  ^n^  may 
be  Heb.  (cf.  mnb  a  capital,  i  K.  7^8,  and  Ass.  kudur,  a  sort  of  cap  or  head- 
covering  [De.  Ass.  Wbch.y),  but,  as  it  occurs  only  in  Esth.,  and  as,  according 
to  Suidas,  Kldapis  was  said  to  be  a  Persian  term  for  royal  or  priestly  crown,  it 
may  be  Persian.  The  Pers.  word  may,  however,  come  from  the  Babylonian. 
KldapLS  (=  drapK),  it  seems,  meant  also  a  felt  hat,  a  sense  which  Bab.  kudur 
might  well  have.  Cf  Lag.  Gesa>n}?t.  Abhandl.  207.  De.  compares  post-Bibl. 
T'j::  giver  of  crowns,  and  nyin  inD  crown  of  knowledge.  Bi.  ns^  buy,  which 
is  not  decidedly  apposite;  Gr.  y\^^?\-'  glory  (as  he  and  Cheyne  read  in  ^  142^), 
also  unsatisfactory.  The  connection  calls  for  the  sense  acquire,  but  the  reading 
is  uncertain;  we  should,  perhaps,  emend  to  rc'-iii  or  Vi*ni%  or  to  iinx",  which 
(@  KpaTTjo-ova-LV  may  represent.  —  19.  The  Anc.  Vrss.,  except  IL,  supply  a  verb 
in  *>:  (S  d€paireij<rov<TLv;  ^i^T  ]n:  come. — 20.  In  |^  in;n'^  the  V  expresses  gen- 
eral  relation,  =  in   respect  to,  for.      The   cl,  may  be   rendered  :    even  to  his 


XIV.  20-22  295 

neighbor  the  poor  man  is  a  hated  person.  —  21.  ^r:  and  ijj?  are  identical  in 
meaning  throughout  OT.  In  Prov.  Keth.  always  gives  the  former  (3^*  1421 
Iji5  1519  22-'-^  30I*  31^-"),  the  latter  is  given  by  Qeri  in  3^*  14^1  161^.  Possibly 
the  Massoretes  in  the  last-named  passages,  and  in  \j/  9^3(12)  jqIS^  take  •'j;;  in  a 
physical  and  uy  in  a  religious  sense  (cf.  the  opposite  change  in  i^  gi^C*));  the 
distinction  is  unwarranted,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  they  have  altered  the 
text  in  just  these  passages.  &1!L  (l^D-)  understand  the  term  in  the  physical 
sense.  In  ^  9!^  ^  has  pDc,  2C  the  vb.  •'x;.  —  (5'^  ir^vrjras  perhaps  represents 
Dtin  (instead  of  inyn),  but  may  be  interpretative  assimilation  to  the  tttwxo^js 
of  b. — %  adds  at  end  the  gloss:   gut  credit  in  Domino  misericordiam  diligit. 

22.  Recompense  of  beneficence  and  maleficence. 

Do  not  they  go  astray  who  devise  evd  ? 

But  they  who  devise  good  meet  with  kindness  and  faithfulness. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  interrogative  form  is  emphatic,  =  verily, 
they  go  astray.  The  derived  sense  devise  is  here  better  than  the 
more  primitive  cut,  carve  (Reuss),  or  plough  (E\v.)  ;  devise  evil, 
devise  good  are  general  expressions  for  planning  and  doing  wrong 
and  right.  The  figure  in  go  astray  is  that  of  travel :  the  bad  man 
wanders  hopelessly,  and  the  expression  may  be  rendered  :  go  to 
destruction.  The  expression  kindness  and  faithfulness  (or,  as 
hendiadys,  faithful  kindness^  denotes  honest,  constant,  friendly 
dealing,  on  the  part  of  man  or  of  God  ;  see  Gen.  47-^  (Jacob  asks 
of  Joseph),  Jos.  2"  (the  spies  promise  Rahab),  2  Sam.  15^''  (Da- 
vid's farewell  to  Ittai),  2  Sam.  2"  (David's  greeting  to  the  men  of 
Jabesh-Gilead)  ;  the  phrase  occurs  in  Pr.  3''  (on  which  see  note) 
16^  20^*,  in  which  passages  the  reference  is  to  human  relations, 
and  such  is  probably  the  sense  here.  The  proverb  affirms  that 
bad  men  are  without  the  friendly  help  of  their  fellows,  while  good 
men  meet  with  kindness.  The  translation  mercy  and  truth  (RV.) 
may  be  retained  for  its  beauty,  if  it  be  understood  in  the  sense 
given  above.  —  The  Grk.  (followed  by  Syr.)  has  two  forms  of  the 
couplet.  One  follows  the  consonants  of  the  Hebrew,  but  changes 
the  grammatical  forms  : 

They  who  err  devise  evil, 

Bui  the  good  devise  mercy  and  truth. 

The  other  departs  more  widely  from  the  Hebrew  : 

The  workers  of  evil  know  not  mercy  and  faith, 

But  acts  of  kindness  and  faith  belontr  to  good  workers. 


296  PROVERBS 

In  second  cl.  the  Lat.  has  :  mercy  and  truth  devise  good.  These 
readings  offer  no  satisfactory  suggestions  for  changes  of  the 
Hebrew. 

23.  Work  versus  talk. 

In  all  labor  there  is  profit, 

But  mere  talk  tends  only  to  penury. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  second  cl.,  ht.  :  the  talk  of  the  lips  is 
,only,  etc.  The  Grk.  interprets  :  he  who  is  merry  and  careless  can 
only  come  to  penury.  The  verse  (the  simple  reflection  of  which 
seemed  bald)  is  paraphrased  by  the  Syr.  in  a  distinctly  religious 
sense  :  /«  all  thine  anxiety  the?'e  is  one  thing  which  is  profitable, 
(namely,)  he  in  whose  life  there  is  lack  shall  have  repose  and  C07n- 
fort ;  the  Lord  heals  every  sorrow  ;  but  the  talk  of  the  lips  of  the 
wicked  brings  them  to  penury.  This  is  quite  in  the  manner  of  the 
Jewish  Midrash  (but  the  Targ.  here  is  literal).  Lagarde  thinks 
the  paraphrase  the  work  of  a  Christian  scribe  who  had  in  mind 
Lu.  16'^^^  (parable  of  Lazarus)  10**-  (Mary's  "good  part").  The 
proverb  simply  inculcates  industry. 

24.  Coronets  of  sages  and  fools.     The  Hebrew  reads : 

The  crown  of  the  wise  is  their  riches, 
The  folly  of  fools  is  folly, 

which  must  be  taken  to  mean  that  wealth  is  an  ornament  to  those 
who  wisely  use  it  (better  :  zvealth  is  the  [or,  a]  crown,  etc.),  and 
that  folly,  when  accompanied  by  wealth,  remains  always  folly. 
But  this  interpretation  requires  too  much  to  be  supplied,  and  the 
statement  of  first  cl.  is  strange  ;  elsewhere  in  Pr.  the  crown  is  the 
honor  bestowed  by  wisdom  (4''),  or  a  good  wife  (12^),  or  the  hoary 
head  (16'''),  or  grandchildren  (17*^)  ;  wealth  is  bestowed  by  wis- 
dom (3'"  8"^),  or  is  the  reward  of  piety  (22'*),  but  not  elsewhere 
an  ornament  to  wise  men.  The  interpretation  "  wealth  is  that 
crown  of  honor  which  is  bestowed  by  wisdom "  (4"  3'*')  seems 
farfetched  —  the  line  here  refers  to  the  use  made  of  wealth  by  the 
wise.  A  couple  of  changes  in  the  Hebrew  (based  on  the  Grk.) 
give  the  reading  : 

The  crown  of  the  wise  is  their  wisdom, 
The  diadem  of  fools  is  their  folly. 


XIV.    22-26  297 

This  offers  a  natural  antithesis  (ternary) .  In  second  cl.  Targ.  has  : 
the  glory  of foo/s  ;  Syr.:  the  subversion,  ^Xc.  Cf.  68.13''*:  Wealth 
is  good  for  him  who  is  witJioiit  sin,  and  poverty  is  dad  in  the 
month {?)   of  the  pious   (or,  according    to    another    reading,    the 

ungodly). 

25.  True  testimony  saves,  false  testimony  slays.    Our  Hebrew 
reads  * 

A  true  witness  saves  lives, 

But  he  who  utters  lies  is  (=  causes)  deception. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Instead  of  is  deception  we  may  read  :  de- 
ceives. The  reference  is  to  legal  procedures.  Truthful  testimony 
saves  men  from  death  (when  they  are  unjustly  accused),  and  in 
general  from  loss  and  misfortune,  while  false  testimony,  according 
to  the  present  Heb.  text,  deceives  the  judges  and  the  public,  and 
thus  brings  ruin  or  loss  on  innocent  persons.  Similar  sayings  are 
6^^  12'"  14^.  —  But  the  form  of  second  cl.  is  grammatically  unsatis- 
factory, and  does  not  give  a  clear  antithesis  to  first  clause.  It  is 
probably  better,  by  a  slight  change  of  the  Heb.,  to  read  : 
But  he  who  utters  lies  destroys. 

26,  27.  The  preservative  power  of  godly  fear. 

26.  He  who  fears  Yahweh  has  strong  ground  of  confidence, 
And  his  children  will  have  a  refuge. 

27.  The  fear  of  Yahweh  is  a  fountain  of  life, 
Whereby  one  avoids  the  snares  of  death. 

26.  Continuous  parallelism,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary. 
The  Heb.  has  :  in  the  fear  of  Yahweh  is,  etc.,  but  this  gives 
no  antecedent  for  the  his  of  second  cl.,  which  cannot  refer  to 
Yahweh  ;  the  usage  of  Prov.,  and  the  parallel  aphorism,  20^  show 
that  the  children  of  the  God-fearing  man  are  meant :  such  pas- 
sages as  Dt.  14^  (Ew.),  i//  73^',  in  which  Israelites  are  called  "sons 
of  God,"  have  no  bearing  on  this  verse.  Nor  is  it  satisfactory  to 
consider  the  his  as  referring  to  a  he  tvlio  fears  contained  implicitly 
in  the  fear  (De.  Str.  al.)  ;  this  is  rhetorically  hard  and  unnatural. 
If  the  unity  of  the  couplet  is  to  be  preserved,  it  is  better  (with 
Luther)  to  change  the  text  and  read  as  above.  'Yo  fear  Yahweh  is 
to  have  reverent  regard  for  his  law,  with  its  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and   this  ensures  his  protection.     The  second  cl.  involves 


298  PROVERBS 

the  idea  of  solidarity  and  inheritance,  according  to  which  children 
reap  the  fruits  of  the  father's  deeds  (Ex.  20^  ®,  and  contra,  Dt.  24^^ 
Jer.  31^  Ez.  1 8-).  It  is  less  likely  that  the  reference  is  to  the 
good  training  of  pious  fathers,  whereby  their  children  learn  to  fear 
God  and  thus  have  him  as  a  refuge ;  this,  if  it  were  the  sage's 
thought,  would  be  distinctly  expressed.  —  27.  Continuous,  ternary 
or  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  :  to  avoid.  The  couplet  is  identical 
with  13",  with  substitution  of  the  fear  of  Yahweh  for  the  law  of 
the  wise,  the  two  things  being  regarded  in  Prov.  as  mutually  equiv- 
alent, and  as  of  equal  authority  (cf.  BS.  19'").  The  teaching  of 
the  sage  rests  on  his  own  observation  and  conviction,  but  it 
involves  the  recognition  of  God  as  the  supreme  source  of  truth. — 
The  change  of  figure  {fountaifi  and  snares)  is  not  rhetorically  bad. 

28.   Population  the  measure  of  strength. 

A  numerous  people  secures  the  king's  glory, 
But  lack  of  people  entails  his  destruction. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  binary).  Lit. :  in  the  multitude  of  people 
is  .  .  .  but  in  the  lack  .  .  .  is  the  destruction  of  the  prince  (De., 
unnecessarily  and  improbably,  the  destruction  of  his  glory).  This 
political  observation,  which  suits  any  time,  refers  to  industrial 
activity  and  international  wars,  and  declares  that  wealth  and  mili- 
tary strength  are  the  decisive  factors  in  national  political  life  —  a 
purely  human  point  of  view,  standing  in  contrast  with  that  of  the 
prophets  and  psalmists;  see  Isa.  7"  10''  37-*'  14^^  49^  Ez.  39^ 
Joel  3  (4) '-'-16  ^3316.     Cf.  v.^. 

29-33.  Various  exhibitions  of  wisdom  and  folly. 

29.  He  who  is  slow  to  anger  shows  great  wisdom, 
He  who  is  of  hasty  temper  shows  great  folly. 

30.  A  tranquil  mind  is  the  life  of  the  body, 
But  passion  is  rottenness  of  bones. 

31.  He  who  oppresses  the  poor  reviles  his  Maker, 
He  honors  him  who  has  mercy  on  the  needy. 

32.  The  wicked  is  overthrown  by  his  wickedness, 
But  the  righteous  may  trust  <  to  his  integrity.' 

33.  Wisdom  takes  up  its  abode  in  the  mind  of  men  of  sense, 
And  <  folly  >  in  the  mind  of  fools. 


XIV.  26-31  299 

29.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Wisdom  is,  more  exactly,  good  sense'; 
the  irascible  man  is  characterized  as  a  fool  on  general  principles  of 
personal  and  social  well-being.  In  second  line  the  verb  of  our 
Heb.  text  is  lit.  lifts  up,  exalts,  which  (if  the  text  be  retained)  is 
best  understood  *  as  =  increases  ( =  is  full  of,  brings  to  a  high 
pitch),  orf  as  =  proclaims  aloud;  in  any  case  the  sense  is  that 
hasty  temper  is  a  sign  of  lack  of  sense  ;  the  renderings  :  takes 
folly  up  (as  it  lies  before  his  feet)}  and  carries  folly  atoay  (receives 
it  as  his  portion  in  life),§  while  they  give  the  same  general  mean- 
ing, are  not  favored  by  the  parallelism.  The  text  should  probably 
be  changed  so  as  to  read  increases.  —  30.  Antithetic,  quaternary- 
ternary.  Tranquil  mind  is  lit.  heart  of  healing,  =  a  mind  or  na- 
ture which  soothes  its  possessor ;  its  opposite  is  an  excitable, 
passionate  disposition  which  keeps  the  man  in  turmoil,  which  is  to 
the  soul  as  caries  to  the  bones.  Body  (f\\..  flesh)  and  bodies  stand 
for  the  man's  whole  being  (as  often  elsewhere),  and  are  not  to  be 
understood  (De.)  as  referring  to  the  close  relation  between  body 
and  mind ;  this  physiologico-psychological  observation  is  not  found 
in  OT.  The  xtwA&xnxg  passion  (for  the  word  which  often  means 
emy,  jealousy,  indignation)  is  suggested  by  the  connection  (the 
term  expresses  the  opposite  of  tranquillity) ;  for  a  similar  sense  of. 
Ez.  5^^  Isa.  42^^  Cant.  8".  Jealousy  (if  this  translation  be  adopted) 
will  express  the  pain  one  feels  at  the  success  of  others  ;  but  we 
should  then  expect  in  the  first  cl.  the  opposite  feeling  (sympathy, 
well-wishing).  —  31.  Chiastic  antithesis,  ternary.  The  his  may 
refer  to  the  subject  he,  or  to  the  poor ;  in  the  former  case,  the 
insult  to  God  consists  in  the  violation  of  his  command  to  be  good 
to  the  poor,  in  the  latter  case  the  consideration  is  that  neglect  of 
the  creature  is  offence  to  the  Creator.  In  either  case  the  familiar 
duty  is  based  on  religious  grounds,  but  in  the  latter  case  (as  De. 
remarks)  there  is  the  implied  recognition  of  a  common  humanity 
—  the  needy  man  is  not  merely  an  object  of  passing  sympathy,  he 
is  respected  as  a  creation  of  the  divine  wisdom.  A  similar  idea  is 
found  in  Mai.  2'",  and  an  exact  parallel  in  Job  31^^;  in  the  well- 
known  hymn  of  Clean thes  all  men  are  said  to  be  sons  of  God. 
Here  a  practical  turn  is  given  to  the  conception.     Cf.  17^  19'^ 

*  So  Grk.  Targ.  Syr.  Fleisch.  Kamp.  X  Ew. 

t  With  Schult.  Reuss.  ^  Raslii,  Ue.  Str. 


300  PROVERBS 

BS  4^-®  (in  which  a  special  prudential  motive  is  introduced). 
Maker  ii  a  divine  name  of  the  late  reflective  literature  (Isa.  51^^ 
54'^  Job  4"  35^°  1/'  95'')  ;  Hos.  8^*  Isa.  \f,  in  which  also  the  word 
occurs,  are  probably  late  editorial  insertions.  —  32.  Antithetic, 
ternary.  In  the  reading  given  above  (which  follows  the  Grk.) 
the  contrast  is  the  common  one  between  the  results  of  righteous- 
ness and  wickedness,  the  second  cl.  affirming  that  a  good  man,  on 
account  of  his  integrity,  has  ground  to  expect  the  protection  of 
God.  This  does  not  involve  self-righteousness  (De.),  but  is  sim- 
ply the  general  teaching  of  Prov.  as  to  the  reward  of  the  righteous. 
—  As  the  text  stands,  it  must  be  rendered  : 

The  wicked  is  overthrown  by  his  calamity, 
But  the  righteous  has  hope  (even)  in  his  death, 

in  which  the  contrast  is  between  the  absoluteness  of  the  fall  of  a 
wicked  man,  and  the  confidence  or  trust  which  the  good  man  has 
even  in  the  greatest  of  calamities.  One  objection  to  this  render- 
ing is  that  the  term  hope  (or,  tries f,  confidence^  is  nowhere  else  used 
absolutely,  but  always  with  the  addition  of  the  object  or  ground 
of  hope  (30^  Isa.  30-  i/^  118*  «/.).  But  the  chief  difficulty  lies  in 
the  necessity  of  defining  Jiope  in  accordance  with  the  usage  of 
Proverbs.  The  book  does  not  recognize  a  joyful  immortality,  but 
everywhere  retains  the  old  idea  of  Sheol,  and  regards  death  as  a 
misfortune.  What  hope  could  the  righteous  have  for  the  here- 
after? Delitzsch  suggests  that,  though  there  was  then  no  revela- 
tion of  true  immortahty,  yet  the  pious  trusted  God,  and  fell  asleep, 
believing  that  they  were  going  home  to  him  ;  this,  however,  is  but 
another  way  of  saying  that  they  had  the  hope  of  immortal  life. 
We  must  either  suppose  that  Prov.  here  announces  a  doctrine 
which  is  ignored  in  the  rest  of  the  book,  or  we  must  recognize  an 
erroneous  reading  in  the  Hebrew  text.  A  slight  change  gives  the 
reading  of  the  Grk.  —  33.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit. :  In  the  heart 
(=  mind)  of  the  intelligent  man  wisdom  reposes  (or,  is  at  rest), 
but  in  the  mind  (or,  inward  part)  of  fools  it  makes  itself  known 
(or,  is  made  known).  Since  the  meaning  cannot  be  that  true 
wisdom  is  possessed  by  fools,  the  it  (=  wisdom)  of  second  cl. 
must  be  understood  (according  to  the  present  text)  in  a  sarcastic 
or  ironical  or  humorous  sense,  and  known  must  express  a  contrast 


XIV.  31-34  30I 

to  reposes,  so  that  we  may  paraphrase  :  "  a  man  of  sense,  not 
being  ambitious  to  gain  applause,  keeps  his  wisdom  to  himself 
(reserving  it  for  fit  occasion),  while  a  fool,  anxious  to  shine,  or 
ignorant  of  propriety,  airs  what  he  thinks  his  wisdom  at  every 
opportunity."  But  this  paraphrase  contains  too  much  explanation, 
and  the  employment  of  wisdom  in  a  sarcastic  sense  is  unexampled 
and  improbable  ;  moreover  the  expression  //  makes  itself  known  in 
the  mifid  of  fools  is  strange  and  hard.  Cf.  12^^,  where  a  sentiment 
of  this  sort  is  clearly  expressed.  The  Grk.  (followed  by  Syr.) 
inserts  the  negative,  and  says  that  it  is  not  known  in  fools,  while 
the  Targ.  reads  :  folly  is  known  (or,  makes  itself  know?t)  ;  these 
emendations  offer  an  intelligible  statement,  but  they  leave  the 
strange  term  known,  which  yields  no  satisfactory  sense.  The  Lat. 
gives  the  bold  interpretation  :  it  will  teach  fools  also  (cf  S''),  which, 
however,  the  Heb.  cannot  mean.  The  rendering  :  (^that  which  is) 
in  the  inward  part  of  fools  is  made  known  (Schult.  RV.)  is  syn- 
tactically highly  improbable,  if  not  impossible.  The  present  text 
seems  impracticable ;  the  change  of  is  knoivn  to  folly  (not  a  vio- 
lent one  in  the  Hebrew)  gives  a  syntactically  natural  sentence, 
with  a  sense  substantially  that  of  13^*^  14**  15^"  (and  cf.  Eccl.  7^)  : 
practical  wisdom  is  the  permanent  possession  of  men  who  have  a 
true  perception  of  the  relations  of  life,  while  folly  in  conduct 
(n'^ix)  characterizes  those  who  are  intellectually  dull  (^DS).  The 
distinction  between  perception  and  conduct  is  made  elsewhere  in 
Prov.  (10-^  14^  a/.). 

34,  35.  Relation  of  nations  and  kings  to  integrity  and 
intelligence. 

34.  Righteousness  exalts  a  nation, 
But  sin  is  the  disgrace  of  peoples. 

35.  The  king's  favor  is  bestowed  on  a  servant  who  acts  intelligently, 
His  anger  rests  on  one  who  conducts  affairs  badly. 

34.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Righteotcsness  here  =  general  moral 
integrity,  its  opposite  is  sin  ;  exalts  =  gives  prosperity  and  power ; 
disgrace  =  that  which  produces  contempt,  namely,  on  account  of 
lack  of  national  vigor  and  power.  The  sentiment  is  substantially 
that  of  the  prophets,  that  national  prosperity  accompanies  obedi- 
ence to  divine  law —  only,  there  is  here  no  reference  to  the  specific 
Israelitish  Law,  and  the  relation  between  integrity  and  success  is 


302  PROVERBS 

conceived  under  the  general  laws  of  social  life.  It  is  not  clear 
whether  there  is  reference  to  the  nation  as  a  political  unit,  whether, 
that  is,  we  have  here  a  principle  of  international  ethics  ;  but,  as 
such  a  principle  is  nowhere  else  stated  in  OT.,  the  reference  is 
probably  intranational.  The  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  in- 
tegrity in  the  Hfe  of  the  people  is  distinct  and  noteworthy ;  the 
motive,  as  elsewhere  in  Prov.,  is  utilitarian  :  morality  is  commer- 
cially and  socially  profitable.  —  35.  Antithetic,  ternary.  In  first 
cl.  the  predicate  is  who  acts  cleverly,  skilfully,  that  is,  in  adminis- 
trative affairs ;  the  contrasted  predicate  is  who  acts  badly,  that 
is,  is  incompetent.  Servant  =  any  subordinate,  here  an  official 
person.     The  verse  may  be  rendered  : 

A  clever  servant  has  the  king's  favor, 
An  incompetent  one  his  displeasure. 

22.  J^  NiSn  is  not  expressed  in  any  Anc.  Vrs.  {^  s'Siy  the  godless,  and  so  2C), 
but  is  good  in  sense  and  rhythm.  For  |^  i;;ni  Hi.  proposes  i>*i",  and  for  "i  'n  Gr. 
suggests  I3;;ni  ^'Cf;  neither  of  these  emendations  is  a  distinct  improvement  of 
|§.  Before  lann  in  ^  insert  S  (cf.  13I8  16^);  so  (§.  —  On  the  double  rendering 
in  (@S  see  Lag.  Baum.  Pink.  Lag.  regards  the  second  form  in  (5  as  original, 
but  this  is  not  clear.  —  23.  (5  appears  not  to  give  a  double  translation  of  |§* 
(Lag.),  but  to  render  |§  d\'^d-'  "13-1  freely  by  T)hm  /cat  dj'dX7i;ros.  On  S  (which 
follows  (§,  but  also  gives  "^  paraphrastically)  cf.  Pink.  —  24.  ^^  ma'j'; 
(§  7rawOp7os;  read  a:D^v  or  ancn;".  —  "^  r'rivS  (first  occurrence),  rendered 
freely  by  (5  dtaTpi^iri;  read  pm'^  (i^  48).  The  second  'n  is  better  written 
anSiN.  —  pj  n::^n;  read,  with  Hi.,  ^,'3^D  destroys.  —  26.  ^  nini  dnio;  read 
">  Nn'''?,  to  gain  an  antecedent  for  the  suffix  in  following  im3.  —  27.  |^  nNi>; 
(S  irpda-rayfia,  =  mh,  as  in  13^*  (Jag.  Baum.).  —  28.  pj  f?i,  only  here;  else- 
where (815  21*  Ju.  53  Hab.  i^"  Isa.  40^^  ip  2^)  yn;  the  stem  (see  the  Arab.) 
=  heavy,  weighty,  powerful;  (S  5vvd<TTov;  tj  Dno  (7rp6voos)  provider,  leader 
(so  Heb.  r\'}-\');  %  •^^■o•,  IL  principis ;  cf.  name  of  Syr.  king  |ti,  i  K.  ii^s. — 
29.  1^  a-;r:;  (@  Iffxvpb^  (lo-xvpCJi  B'^^  n^. a^.);  gr;  ijd,  apparently  =  nann  (Gr.), 
which  we  should  probably  here  read.  —  30.  (S^  (followed  by  &)  irpq.ijdvp.o% 
av7)p  Kapdlas  iarpds  is  free  rendering  of  |t^,  the  two  first  words  (|^  onto  "n) 
having  been  conformed,  by  scribal  caprice,  to  the  beginning  of  v.^^,  ixaKpbdvjxo^ 
dv-rip,  and  taken  as  subject;   for  |§  nsid  aS  (@  appears  to  have  read  3*7  NSic. 

—  31.  1^  p;;'';';  (3  6  avKocpavrCov.  —  St  and  p3X  do  not  occur  in  chs.  1-9. — 
32.  |§  inb3  noi-i;  (§  6  TreTroi^tis  t^  eai;roO  oiriirJjTi;  read  lona  (Bi.  Kamp. 
Frank.).  —  33.  |^  ;;nin;  read  nSiN.  For  dv^pbi,  in  (g  iv  Kapdlg.  dyad^  dvbphs 
ffotpla,  Jag.  proposes  tvedpos,  which  would  satisfactorily  represent  |^  njn  (see 
Lag.).  —  34.  1^  "iDn  (apparently  an  Aramaism)  ;  (5  eXacrcrovovai,  =  iDn  (Jag.). 

—  35.  1^  imaiJi;  (§  ttj  5^  eavroO  €va-Tpo<plg.,  =  inm;7i  (Jag.).  —  @  has  another 
rendering  of  ^  in  151*;   dpyi]  dirdWva-iv  kuI  (ppovi/jLOvs  (pp). 


XIV.  34-XV.  4  303 

XV.  1.   Power  of  gentleness. 

A  soft  answer  turns  away  wrath, 
But  harsh  words  stir  up  anger. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Soft^  mild,  gentle  ;  see  25'^  Tunis  away; 
cf.  29"  24^^  Jer.  i8=°;  one  Greek  text  has  causes  to  cease  (=  de- 
stroys). Harsh  {KY .  grievous)  is  that  which  produces  vexation 
or  pain.  Hindu,  Chinese,  Greek  and  other  parallels  to  this  prov- 
erb are  given  by  Malan  ;  see  also  Ptah-hotep  (in  Art.  Egyptian 
Lit.,  in  Lib.  of  World's  Best  Z//.).  — To  this  couplet  the  Grk. 
prefixes  a  modified  form  of  second  cl.  of  i4''^ :  auger  destroys  even 
the  wise. 

2.  Speech  of  sage  and  fool. 

The  tongue  of  the  wise  <  dispenses  >  knowledge, 
The  mouth  of  fools  utters  folly. 

Antithetic,  quaternary  (or,  ternary).  Dispenses  is  lit.  drops  (5^ 
Job  29=^  Am.  7^*^  Ez.  20**^  [21-]  al.),  for  which  the  Heb.  has  makes 
good,  that  is,  does  or  treats  in  a  good,  excellent  way,  RV,  uttereth 
aright;  this  does  not  give  so  exact  a  contrast  to  utters  as  the  read- 
ing here  adopted,  which 'is  obtained  by  a  slight  change  in  one 
Heb.  letter.  The  reference  is  to  all  wisdom  and  folly,  religious 
and  other.      Cf.  lo^^^^'^^  X2^^  14^ 

3.  God's  criticism  of  life. 

The  eyes  of  Yahweh  are  in  every  place, 
Keeping  watch  on  wicked  and  good. 

Continuous,  ternary.  The  Participle  in  second  cl.  is  used  of  the 
watchman  of  a  city  (2  K.  9^^  Isa.  52^),  of  the  prophet  as  moral 
and  religious  critic  (Ez.  ■^'),  of  the  wife  as  guardian  of  the  house- 
hold (31-0,  and  the  verb  of  God  as  observer  of  men  («/^  66^. 
This  universal  divine  criticism  is  adduced  as  a  warning  against 
wrong-doing  (De.)  :  Yahweh  will  punish  the  bad  and  reward  the 
good  —  nothing  escapes  his  eye.  Possibly  also  (Frank.)  the 
couplet  is  aimed  at  the  philosophical  theory  that  God  looks  with 
indifference  on  human  actions  (Epicureanism). 

4.  Gentle  speech. 

A  soothing  tongue  is  a  tree  of  life, 
But  violent  words  wound  the  soul. 


304  PROVERBS 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Soothing  tongue  is  lit.  the  healing  of  the 
tongue,  that  is,  its  utterance  which  has  power  to  heal  or  soothe 
the  feelings  of  others,  becoming  thus  to  them  a  source  of  enjoy- 
able life  ;  the  two  terms  of  the  Heb.  expression  should  perhaps 
be  inverted,  so  as  to  read  a  tongue  of  healing  (such  is  the  order 
in  14^°,  a  heart  of  healifig).  RV.  wholesome  tongue  ;  De.  gentle- 
ness of  tongue.  On  tree  of  life  see  note  on  3^^^.  —  The  Heb.  of 
second  cl.  reads  lit. :  hit  violence  (RV.  perverseness)  therein  (that 
is,  in  the  tongue)  is  a  breaking  of  the  spirit,  a  crushing  or  wound- 
ing of  the  man  to  whom  or  of  whom  such  words  are  spoken ; 
spirit  =  inner  being  or  personality ;  for  the  expression  see  Isa. 
65"  (RV.  vexation  of  spirit). —  Violent  is  that  which  passes 
beyond  the  line  of  right,  the  immoderate,  extravagant,  or  false ; 
see  note  on  11^,  and,  for  the  corresponding  verb,  notes  on  13*"'  19^ 
21^^  22^-.  The  parallelism  here  favors  the  sense  immoderate  (so 
the  Lat.)  or  violent,  which  gives  a  contrast  like  that  in  v.^  —  The 
second  cl.  is  misunderstood  by  all  the  Anc.  Vrss.  except  the  Latin. 

5.  Docility  a  mark  of  wisdom. 

A  fool  despises  his  father's  instruction, 
But  he  who  regards  reproof  acts  wisely. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  ternary).  Cf.  13^  15"".  Acts 
wisely  =  is  wise,  that  is,  shows  his  good  sense  in  accepting  re- 
proof. The  first  cl.  assumes  that  parental  instruction  is  the  basis 
of  moral  life,  but  the  characterization  of  the  fool  as  a  despiser 
holds  good,  in  Prov.,  in  respect  to  all  instruction  (10*  12^  al.). 

6.  Financial  reward  of  righteousness. 

In  the  house  of  the  righteous  are  great  stores, 
But  the  revenues  of  the  wicked  are  <  cut  off.> 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf.  10- 11*  15^.  Physical  prosperity  is  rep- 
resented as  the  reward  of  virtue.  The  Heb.  reads  lit. :  the  house 
of  the  righteous  is  a  great  store  (or,  treasure) ,  but  in  the  revenue 
(or,  produce)  of  the  wicked  is  a  thing  troubled  (that  is,  brought 
into  misfortune,  calamity,  or  embarrassment,  see  Ju.  11^  i  Sam. 
14^  I  K.  18^^)  ;  cf.  11^'- -3.  This  last  expression  is  not  here  ap- 
propriate; calamity  (RV.  trouble)  would  be  logically  correct, 
though  the  Heb.  does  not  admit  of  this  translation ;  the  antithesis 


XV.  4-7  305 

favors  the  reading  (found  in  one  Greek  text)  destroyed,  cut  off; 
the  prep,  in  should  be  removed  from  second  cl.,  and  inserted  (as 
in  RV.)  in  first  clause.  The  form  of  expression  of  the  couplet  is 
drawn  from  agricultural  life;  the  term  reveime  occurs  in  3""  8'^ 
io^«  14^  16^  18-"  Ex.  23^"  Jos.  5^2^/.— The  Grk.  has  two  render- 
ings of  the  couplet,  one  differing  slightly  from  the  Heb.,  the  other 
conformed  to  it ;  the  former  is  probably  the  older,  the  latter  a 
revision. 

7.  Sages,  not  fools,  seek  knowledge. 

The  lips  of  the  wise  <  preserve  >  knowledge, 
But  the  mind  of  fools  is  without  <  intelligence.' 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  proverb  contrasts  the  wise 
man's  devotion  to  knowledge  with  the  intellectual  dulness  of  the 
opposite  class.  Wise  and  foolish  denote  tempers  or  constitutions 
of  mind ;  knowledge  is  the  product  or  the  accumulated  treasure  of 
wisdom.  Lips  and  mind  {hearty  are  substantially  synonyms  ;  the 
Hps  speak  what  the  mind  thinks  ;  so  in  v.-*^,  and  cf.  v.".  Here,  as 
elsewhere  in  Pr.,  stress  is  laid  on  utterance  and  teaching.  —  In 
the  first  line  the  verb  in  the  Heb.  is  scatter,  a  word  elsewhere 
used  of  destructive  dispersion  (20'^-'^  Ez.  5^°  \\i  106-^  al.^  ;  the  ap- 
propriate term  pj-esej've  is  obtained  by  the  change  of  one  letter. 
The  last  expression  of  second  cl.  reads  in  the  Heb.  is  not  so,  or, 
is  not  upright  (or,  honest,  or,  steadfast,  or,  trustworthy).  The 
first  of  these  renderings  is  rhetorically  lame  and  improbable,  and 
is  hardly  bettered  by  RV.  doeth  not  so  ;  the  verb  scatter,  retained 
by  RV.,  suits  lips,  but  not  mind,  though  this  difficulty  disappears 
if  we  xt-SL^  preserve.  The  second  rendering  supphes  no  good  con- 
trast to  first  cl. ;  the  point  is  not  the  fool's  lack  of  uprightness, 
but  his  inability  to  appreciate  knowledge.  The  contrast  is  gained 
by  a  slight  change  in  the  Heb.  text,  whereby  we  have  the  sense 
does  not  understand ;  for  similar  expressions  see  18^  23'^  28^  29^ 
The  fool,  whose  point  of  view  puts  him  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
right,  has  no  real  comprehension  of  hfe. 

8,  9.  Two  abominations  of  the  Lord.  —  Antithetic,  quaternary- 
ternary. 

8.    The  sacrifice  of  the  wicked  is  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 
But  the  prayer  of  the  upright  is  acceptable  to  him. 
X 


306  PROVERBS 

9.    Abomination  to  Yahweh  is  the  life  of  the  wicked, 
But  him  who  practises  righteousness  he  loves. 

8.  This  is  one  of  the  few  places  in  Prov.  in  which  the  sacrificial 
ritual  is  mentioned  (see  7"  17^  21^-^^),  and  here,  as  in  21^-',  it  is 
introduced  in  a  connection  which  calls  for  disapprobation.  Sacri- 
fice without  righteousness,  say  the  sages  and  the  prophets,  is  ab- 
horrent to  God ;  sacrifice  with  righteousness  is  not  mentioned  in 
Prov.,  perhaps  because  it  was  obviously  proper,  and  called  for  no 
remark.  The  sages  recognize  the  ritual  as  a  legitimate  and  bind- 
ing form  of  worship,  but  they  lay  no  stress  on  it  —  they  never 
enjoin  obedience  to  its  requirements.  —  The  contrast  q{  sacrifice 
and  prayer  appears  to  be  doubly  significant :  it  intimates  that  the 
former  is  an  outward  service  easily  performed  by  a  bad  man, 
while  the  latter  is  an  inward  service  appropriate  to  the  sincerely 
pious ;  and  it  suggests  that,  in  a  certain  circle,  a  movement  had 
begun  which,  by  laying  stress  on  communion  of  heart  with  God, 
tended  to  bring  about  the  abolition  of  the  sacrificial  ritual;  a  sim- 
ilar movement  appears  to  be  indicated  in  \\i  50'"*,  and  is  most  fully 
visible  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  —  The  two  terms  can  hardly 
here  be  synonyms,  standing  each  for  a  ritual  complex  which  in- 
cludes the  commonly  associated  acts  of  sacrifice  and  prayer  (see 
I  Sam.  i^^  2  Sam.  7^*,  and  cf.  Lu.  i^°)  ;  the  antithesis  is  here 
marked.  —  For  a  similar  attitude  toward  sacrifice  cf.  Am.  5-'  Isa. 
i"  Jer.  7^2  I  Sam.  15^-  ^  50^"  ^  ji6.i7(i8.i9)_  Qn  sacrifice  see  note 
on  7'^,  on  acceptable,  notes  on  8-'^  10'^-  ii\  and,  for  the  ritual  use 
of  the  term.  Lev.  i'^.  The  prayer  of  the  morally  good  man  is 
acceptable,  is  pleasing  and  is  heard,  simply  because  he  is  good  — 
but  it  is  not  said  whether  or  not  he  also  offers  sacrifice.  — 9.  Par- 
allel to  the  preceding  couplet,  with  substitution  of  ethical  for  reli- 
gious conditions.  Life  is  fit.  way,  =  line  of  conduct,  manner  of 
life  ;  practises  is  \\\..  follows  after.  —  Possibly  the  editor,  in  putting 
the  two  couplets  together,  meant  to  explain  the  first  by  the  second. 

10.  He  who  will  not  learn  must  die. 

There  is  stern  correction  for  him  who  forsakes  the  way, 
He  who  hates  reproof  shall  die. 

Identical,  ternary.  The  way  is  that  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
The  stern  (hard,  grievous,  sharp)  correction  is  death  (second  cl. 


XV.  8-1 1 


307 


shall  die).  On  correction  and  reproof  see  notes  on  i^^.  The 
person  described  is  the  morally  wicked,  disobedient  man  ;  the 
punishment  is  physical  and  earthly.  Life  is  represented  as  a  dis- 
cipline —  woe  to  him  who  fails  to  profit  thereby  !  —  Grk.,  inter- 
preting :    shall  die  basely  (or,  a  shameful  death). 

11.  The  depths  of  the  soul  are  known  to  God. 

Sheol  and  Abaddon  lie  open  before  Yahweh, 
How  much  more  the  hearts  of  men  ! 

Extended  parallelism,  ternary.  The  couplet  expresses  a  conclu- 
sion from  the  less  to  the  greater ;  it  is  assumed  that  the  Under- 
world is  a  more  remote  and  mysterious  region  than  the  human 
soul.  On  Sheol  see  notes  on  i^-  5^  al.  The  term  Abaddon 
(  =  place  of  destruction,  region  of  death)  occurs  elsewhere  in  OT. 
in  27-°  (in  connection,  as  here,  with  Sheol),  Job  26"  (parallel  to 
Sheol),  28"  (in  connection  with  Death,  —  the  Realm  of  death), 
31I2  (—  Underworld),  \p  88"'^-*  (parallel  to  Grave,  and  =  Under- 
world) ;  it  is  thus  a  synonym  of  Sheol,  to  which  it  is  here  added 
for  rhetorical  emphasis.  There  is  no  authority  for  the  opinion 
(De.)  that  Abaddon  is  the  lowest  region  of  Sheol.  The  OT.  does 
not  recognize  strata  in  Sheol;  the  expression  in  Dt.  32^' i/' 86'^, 
Sheol  below  (AV.  lowest  hell,  RV.  loivest  pit),  simply  describes 
Sheol  as  a  place  beneath  the  earth,  like  the  Netherland  (=  Sheol) 
of  Ez.  31".  In  the  NT.  Apocalypse  (9")  Abaddon  is  the  name 
of  the  Angel  of  the  Abyss  (=  Angel  who  inflicts  death,  and  sends 
men  to  Sheol)  ;  in  the  Talmud  {Shab.  89°-)  it  is  used  in  a  similar 
manner ;  as  the  conception  of  the  other  life  became  more  defi- 
nite, the  tendency  was  to  personalize  OT.  expressions.  Here,  as 
in  Job  26^,  Yahweh  is  apparently  represented  as  controlling  Sheol ; 
a  different  view  is  expressed  in  Isa.  39'"^  where  (as  generally  in 
the  earlier  literature)  Yahweh  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Under- 
world (cf.  note  on  i^-)  ;  the  change  of  view  was  due  to  the  com- 
pleter development  of  the  monotheistic  idea.  Even  Job  (Job 
14^'')  is  not  sure  that  God's  power  controls  Sheol;  the  view  of 
Prov.  is  more  advanced,  but  still  does  not  express  a  moral  control 
exercised  by  God  over  the  denizens  of  the  Underworld.  —  Men  is 
lit.  children  of  men ;    son  of  man  is  a  comparatively  late  Heb. 


3o8  PROVERBS 

expression  for  "  human  being"  ;  so  Ez.  2'  al.,  Job  25*^  i/'  8*^*^  33^' 
Dan.  8^^  (and  Aramaic,  7^''). 

12.  Indocility  of  the  scoffer. 

A  scoffer  loves  not  to  he  reproved, 
And  will  not  walk  <  with  '  the  wise. 

Explanatory  parallelism,  ternary-binary.  On  scoffer-  see  note  on 
i^^.  In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  go  to;  the  better  reading  is 
given  in  13-"  (so  the  Grk.  here)  ;  cf.  22-^  ("do  not  walk  [asso- 
ciate] with  an  irascible  man").  Cf.  also  i^'^  4".  The  scoffer  is 
regarded  as  a  man  whose  character  is  fixed.  It  is  not  suggested 
that  he  might  be  helped  by  association  with  the  wise. 

13.  Joy  enlivens,  sorrow  depresses. 

Joyous  heart  makes  cheerful  face, 

But  by  sorrow  of  soul  the  spirit  is  broken. 

Antithesis  partly  implicit,  ternary.  RV.  (=  AV.)  :  a  merry  heart 
maketh  a  cheerful  countenance,  in  which  the  word  fnerry  now  im- 
plies more  of  movement  and  utterance  than  is  contained  in  the 
Heb.  term,  which  means  joyful,  glad.  Soul  is  lit.  heart;  heart 
and  spirit  are  synonyms,  both  signifying  the  inner  nature  or  being, 
but,  in  the  connection,  spirit  may  have  the  connotation  (in  Heb. 
as  in  English)  of  courage  and  hope.  —  Exact  antithesis  in  expres- 
sion would  require  "  sad  face  "  in  second  cl. ;  the  variant  phrase 
implies  that  a  broken  spirit  is  manifested  by  sadness  of  counte- 
nance, while  a  cheerful  face  shows  a  high,  courageous  spirit.  The 
proverb  notes  a  fact  of  experience  :  joy  is  inspiring,  sorrow  is 
depressing  —  the  advantage  of  the  former  is  clear.  The  man's 
mood  is  shown  by  his  countenance.      Cf.  BS.  13^. 

14.  The  aliment  of  sages  is  knowledge,  of  fools  folly. 

The  mind  of  the  wise  seeks  knowledge. 
The  mouth  of  fools  feeds  on  folly. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  relation  between  wise  and  knowledge 
is  the  same  here  as  in  v.'',  on  which  see  note.  In  second  cl.  the 
Heb.  text  has  face,  which  EvvaUl  retains ;  but  the  reading  of  the 
margin,  mouth  (which  is  found  in  all  the  Anc.  Vrss.)  accords  with 
the  \!tx\)  feeds,  and  is  obviously  better ;  mouth  feeds  is  a  rhetorical 


XV.  II-I5  309 

variation  of  mind  seeks.  —  Instead  o{  feeds  on,  the  verb  of  the  sec- 
ond cl.  may  be  rendered  is  occupied  tvith,  strives  after  (lit.  asso- 
ciates with),  ox,  delights  in,  but  feeds  better  suits  the  noun  mouth. 
—  The  word  rendered /t'^A  denotes  the  highest  degree  of  stolidity, 
insusceptibility  and  unreceptiveness ;  the  mental  furniture  and 
nourishment  of  such  an  one  is  foolishness  or  folly  in  thought  and 
deed,  and  this  is  the  product  of  ignorance.  Here,  as  in  14^"^  al. 
and  throughout  chs.  1-9,  virtue  is  allied  with  knowledge,  vice  with 
ignorance.     The  verbs  express  eager  interest  and  devotion. 

XV.  1.  1^  -yz'^;  Berakoth,  l"]  a  arp  (Strack,  Proleg.,  105)  — ?§  Ti;  <S  freely 
VTroiriwTovcra  submissive.  —  ^  ■I'^j?"';  ©  eyelpei,  free  rendering  of  |§,  or  of  iVD, 
as  S  has  it.  —  2.  pj  :3ari;  read  H'^!?  (Mic.  2^  Ez.  ai^);  the  stem  occurs  in  Pr, 
only  in  5^,  and  then  in  the  literal  sense;  (5  /caXa  eirlffTaTai  =  f§  nyi  3t2."i. — 
J^  nSiN;  B  iPtai':',  =  n'^N  (Jag.).  —  4.  In  ^  (SSST  diverge  widely  from  |§ : 
(5  6  5^  <TvvTf)pC}v  aiiTTjv  ir\ri(Tdria€Tai  Trveijfj.aTOs;  ttX.  =  yji";  (tvvt.  perh.  from 
dSd  or  D7pD  zveighs  (Jag.  Gr.) ;  Schl.  suggests  //.tj  (rvvr-qpCov  and  avvrpi^-qcreTai. 
2r  (and  substantially  Si)  i'^rj  innifl  p  "^osii  (S>  adds  nj::),  apparently  free 
rendering  of  (§.  Bi.  writes  1^0  and  >'3r.  There  seems  to  be  nothing  better 
than  to  retain  |^,  perh.  omitting  3  in  n-)3  (Isa.  65^*) ;  De.,  in  support  of  the  3, 
adduces  Arab.  ^2^p2  lao  ke  has  broken  my  hem-t ;  the  3  would  thus  mark  the 
place  of  the  act  of  breaking.  —  ^p  (the  stem  in  ^  usually  "lijn,  5E  '^P'^p)  occurs 
only  here  and  11^,  on  which  see  note.  —  5.  J§  F^J';  (5  /xvKTrjpl^ei.  —  6.  In 
1^  nN3ra  omit  the  3,  and  insert  the  same  prep,  before  n3  (so  S^T).  Bi.  n3"in3. 
|§  rrisn;  read  p^dj.  —  On  (S  see  Lag.  Baum.  —  7.  |^  nr'';  (g  d^derai,  from 
ITS';  2  (^uX(£(r(roD(Tt ;  read  nx>  (Frank.).  —  |^  p;  (@  do-^aXeis;  3L  (p  N*?)  dissi- 
mile ;  read  pi  (so  also  Gr.  suggests).  — 10.  ?^  nix  iv;^;  (S  yvupl^erai  virb 
tCov  irapL6vT(i}v,  =  'X  nsjj"?  (Jag.),  7v.  being  supplied  to  make  the  sentence 
complete. —  (§  olkolkov  (|^  >'i),  probably  error  for  kukov  (Jag.).  S  follows  (S; 
^  nmN  Ni;'i3r:,  perh.  free  rendering  of  |§.  — 1§  pt'';  Gr.  an^^  (Hos.  13^). — 
11.  ||J  ppN;  (5  dirciXeta.— 12.  |§  '^x;  read  P(<  ((§  /xerd).  — 13.  In  ^ 
(§  ffKuOpwira^ei.  is  sad  maintains  aja  as  subject,  while  S  follows  ^  except 
that  it  makes  the  verb  transitive;  in  both  cases  we  have  the  natural  freedom 
of  translators.  — 14.  Kethib  ^jb;  read  Qere  ■>fl  (so  (§Si3C).  —  ?^  p'^.^!<  ^')>y/y 
(§  yvdjaerai  (y\^)  KaKo.  (perh.  =  ^)  ;  Gr.  nsTi  delights  in,  and  Frank.  n;?-\>  as 
corresponding  Aram,  form;  all  the  senses  of  the  stem  n>'p  seem  to  be  closely 
related  to  one  another. 

15.   Happiness  is  better  than  sorrow. 

Every  day  is  hard  for  him  who  is  in  trouble, 
But  the  happy  man  has  a  continual  feast. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  A  statement  of  ordinary  experience  (cf. 
v.^*),  without  ethical  import,  but  with  implied  commendation  of 


3IO 


PROVERBS 


cheerfulness  and  happiness.  Happy  is  \\\..  good  of  heart,  that  is,  in 
a  good,  joyous,  or  cheerful  frame  of  mind.  ')L\\t  feast  is  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  conditions  of  life.  Hard  here  represents  the  same 
Heb.  word  that  is  rendered  by  stern  in  v.^".  On  the  adjective 
translated  in  trouble  (which  elsewhere  has  also  the  senses  poor, 
afflicted,  pious^  see  notes  on  3"'^  14-^  i6'^ 

16,  17.   Superiority  of  spiritual  over  physical  wealth. 

16.  Better  is  little  with  the  fear  of  Yahweh 
Than  great  treasure  and  trouble  therewith. 

1 7.  Better  a  dish  of  herl^s  with  love 
Than  a  fatted  ox  with  hate. 

16.  Single  sentence  expressing  an  antithesis,  ternary.  Lit.  in 
the  fear,  etc.,  that  is,  so  held.  Trouble  (a  diiTerent  word  from  that 
rendered  in  trouble  in  preceding  verse)  is  disturbance,  anxiety, 
perplexity.  It  is  assumed  that  the/^^r  of  Yahweh,  morality  based 
on  or  connected  with  religion,  saves  one  from  harassing  care,  since 
it  brings  divine  protection.  It  is  not  said  that  wealth  necessarily 
entails  trouble  and  distress,  but  only  that  this  may  be  the  case  — 
a  statement  which  the  experience  of  all  men,  especially  in  highly 
organized  communities,  abundantly  confirms  ;  and  the  couplet  is 
a  warning  against  rage  for  riches.  — 17.  Antithetic  sentence,  ter- 
nary. Cf.  17^  The  word  rendered  dish  appears  to  mean  prima- 
rily, "  that  which  one  offers  to  a  traveller,"  and  then,  in  general, 
"  a  portion  of  food  "  ;  Grk.  entertainment  of  a  guest ;  the  allusion 
in  the  proverb  may  be  to  such  entertainment,  though  the  applica- 
tion is  general,  to  all  meals.  The  allusion,  as  in  the  preceding 
couplet,  is  to  the  perils  of  wealth  {fatted  ox  stands  for  luxury  in 
general).  There  is  no  polemic  against  wealth,  but  a  reminder  that 
it  is  not  always  an  unmixed  blessing.  On  fatted  see  note  on  14^ 
andcf.  I  K.  4^^  (s''). 

18,  19.   Commendation  of  patience  and  industry. 

18.  An  irascible  man  stirs  up  contention, 
One  slow  to  anger  appeases  strife. 

19.  The  way  of  the  slothful  is  i  hedged  up  with  >  thorns, 
But  the  path  of  the  <  diligent '  is  well-built. 

18.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  man  of  first  cl.  is  not  one  who  is 
angry  (RV.  wrathful),  but  one  prone  to  anger,  quicktempered,  in 


XV.  I5-20  311 

contrast  with  the  calm,  patient  man  of  second  cl.  See  the  similar 
statements  in  14-'^  15^  BS.  8^^  28^^^  — 19.  Antithetic,  quaternary- 
ternary.  Grk.,  happily  :  f/ie  way  of  the  slothful  is  strown  with 
thorns,  that  of  the  sturdy  is  smooth.  Heb.  :  is  like  a  hedge  of 
thorns,  in  which  the  like  is  to  be  omitted  (in  accordance  with  the 
form  of  second  cl.)  and  the  hedge  changed  to  hedged — a  path 
cannot  be  compared  to  a  hedge,  but  may  be  said  to  be  hedged 
up,  encumbered ;  so  Hos.  2*^'"'"  :  /  ^vill  hedge  up  thy  way  with 
thorns.  The  slothful  man  meets  with  obstacles  at  every  point,  and 
makes  no  progress.  On  the  other  hand,  the  path  of  the  industri- 
ous man  is  cai-efully  constructed  and  free  from  obstacles,  like  a 
highway  (so  RV.);  the  adj.  means  cast  up,  roads  having  been  con- 
structed by  throwing  up  earth  (Jer.  18^^  Isa.  57'^).  The  antithesis 
requires  that  the  man  of  second  cl.  be  described  as  diligent;  the 
Heb.  term  {yashar)  may  mean  honest,  straightforward  (usually, 
upright) ,  but  an  inconsiderable  alteration  gives  the  ordinary  word 
for  industrious  (10*  12-''-'  13^  21^). 

20,  21.  Wisdom  and  folly  —  their  results  for  life.  Antithetic, 
ternary.  Delitzsch  makes  v.-"  (on  account  of  its  resemblance  to 
10^)  the  beginning  of  the  third  section  (see  13^)  of  the  collection 
contained  in  10^-22^''.  It  may  mark  the  beginning  of  a  separate 
minor  collection  ;  see  the  Introduction. 

20.  A  wise  son  makes  a  glad  father, 
A  fool  scorns  his  mother. 

21.  Folly  is  delight  to  one  who  lacks  sense, 

But  a  man  of  understanding  is  straightforward  in  his  ways. 

20.  The  first  cl.  is  identical  with  first  cl.  of  io\  In  the  second 
cl.,  instead  of  the  is  a  source  of  anxiety  to  of  10^  (which  furnishes 
an  obvious  contrast),  we  have  the  variation  scorns,  which  may 
be  taken  to  mean  "  despises  advice  and  so  brings  sorrow  to  his 
mother,"  or  "  shows  by  his  conduct  that  he  despises  his  mother's 
teaching,"  or  simply  "  scorns  his  mother  and  her  advice  "  (so 
the  Grk.)  — that  is,  the  wise  son  honors  and  gladdens  his  father, 
the  foolish  laughs  at  and  saddens  his  mother.  The  variation  of 
expression  in  a  familiar  apophthegm  would  be  not  unnatural ;  it  is 
possible,  however,  that  the  second  cl.  stood  originally  with  some 
such  line  as  a  wise  son  honors  his  father.  —  In   second   cl.  the 


3  1 2  PROVERBS 

Heb.  reads  (as  in  21^)  :  a  fool  of  a  man  {RY .  foolish  man)  —  a 
construction  like  that  of  Gen.  16^-,  a  wild  ass  of  a  man  (a  man 
of  the  fool  sort,  of  the  wild  ass  species).  The  Anc.  Vrss.  and 
some  Heb.  MSS.  xtsid  foolish  son,  which  may  be  assimilation  of  the 
expression  here  to  the  more  familiar  form  of  10^,  —  21.  The  term 
follv  here  has  a  moral  as  well  as  an  intellectual  content.  The 
delight  is  made  possible  by  intellectual  and  moral  obtuseness  — 
the  fool  does  not  understand  the  consequences  of  his  actions,  and 
therefore  has  no  basis  for  his  moral  hfe ;  he  takes  pleasure  in 
things  bad  not  because  they  are  bad,  but  because  he  does  not 
know  that  they  are  bad,  and  does  not  see  or  believe  that  they  will 
bring  punishment  on  him.  —  He  who  has  insight  into  the  laws  of 
life,  human  and  divine,  acts  in  a  straightforward  way,  is  wisely 
upright,  knowing  that  this  is  the  only  safe  rule  of  hfe.  Knowledge 
is  thus  represented  as  the  foundation  of  character. 

15.  Before  |^  ab  insert  *?.  —  <Bi^  irdi'Ta  tov  xp^vov  ol  ocpdaX/xol  tuv  KaKtov 
(=  ayi  >ry)  TrpocrS^xovTai  KaKci.  Lag.  supposes  that  the  Grk.  translator  had 
y-\  -y-y  -jji,  which  he  read  nj?-\  njjn  ay-\;  perh.,  however,  the  Grk.  stands  for 
nyi  uy-\  ''JV'';  Bi.  nyn  pn  'jiy.  — 1[§  nnsrD;  (§  ir/a-uxdcroucrtj',  =  nair'c  (I-ag.). — 
16.  1^  ncHD;  Or.  nniD.  The  following  13  is  omitted  by  Bi.  on  rhythmical 
grounds.  —  For  |^  'D  (5  has  dcpo^ias,  a  singular  expression  (=  without  the  fear 
of  Yahiveh^,  but  apparently  chosen  as  contrast  to  the  (pd^ov  of  '^;  the  reading 
dae^eias  {^^  23.  252.  Lag.)  is  scribal  emendation;  cf.  Baum.  On  5>  see 
Pinkuss.  — 17.  |^  nniN;  (3  ^fvia/xds;  ^K  n";^:'  a  meal;  %  freely,  vocari  ad. 
Bi.  omits  DC",  instead  of  which  (5  has  Koi.  xdpiv,  perh.  =  jm  (Bi.),  perh. 
rhetorical  expansion. — <S  nccH;  not  Rabbin,  (love  of)  the  tiaine,  i.e.  God 
(Baum.),  but  (love  of)  reputation  ;  see  Pinkuss.  — 18.  On  the  two  renderings 
of  <S  see  Lag.  Baum.;  dae^-fjs  (Dx:n),  as  being  farther  from  |^,  is  regarded  by 
Lag.  as  genuine;  (§  ttjv  fiiWovaap  (=  the  impending  ox  threatening  quarrel^ 
is  free  rendering  of  ||J  3-1,  or,  possibly,  =  N2n;  jxaWov,  in  like  manner,  may 
freely  express  the  contrast  of  the  clauses,  the  pa  of  |^  being  left  untranslated. 
S  combines  the  two  renderings  of  (g,  perhaps  by  alterations  of  successive 
scribes.  — 19.  |l?  P3'.;'DC;  read  PDiba  (so  @,  cf.  Lag.). — |^  dt^";  (5  dvdpeiuv; 
read  ns-in  (cf.  (S  in  10*).  — 20."?^  ans-  ^Do;  <3BE  and  7  Heb.  MSS.  have 
h02  p,  probably  assimilation  to  loi.  —  J^  nn;  (g  fivKT-qpi^ei;  S  Nnnna  dis- 
grace (the  same  stem  is  employed  in  lo^).  —  21.  <B  appears  to  leave  nnDir 
untranslated,  and  to  insert  Tpi^oi.  from  the  connection;  Lag.  emends  ivheeh  to 

22,  23.  Value  of  wise  words. 

22.    Where  there  is  no  counsel  plans  are  thwarted, 
They  succeed  when  many  give  advice. 


XV.  20-24  313 

23.    Joy  comes  to  a  man  from  the  utterance  of  his  mouth, 
And  a  word  in  season,  how  good  is  it ! 

22.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  idea  of  the  couplet  is  substan- 
tially that  of  11",  on  which  see  note  ;  variations  of  such  aphorisms 
were  doubtless  common  ;  see  note  on  v.-".  The  plans  (RV.  pur- 
poses) may  be  those  of  a  government  or  those  of  a  private  family 
or  person;  thwarted  (RV.  disappointed)  is  lit.  broken;  succeed 
(RV.  are  established)  is  lit.  stand ;  the  last  expression  of  second 
line  is  lit.  :  by  (or,  through)  the  multitude  of  counsellors  (or,  ad- 
visers) .  The  king  had  his  cabinet,  and  the  private  man  his  circle 
of  friends.  On  counsel  see  3^-  1 1''^  20^'-*  25^,  and  cf.  Am.  3''  Jer.  23^^ 
Job  iQ^'-* )/' 55"'^''.  —  23.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Utterance  is  lit. 
answer,  a  term  which  is  often  used  in  OT.  and  NT.  for  expression 
or  speech  in  general,  where  there  is  no  obvious  response.  The 
meaning  appears  to  be  that  a  well-considered  and  apposite  word 
may  bring  profit  and  joy  to  him  who  utters  it.  The  general  ex- 
pression utterance  of  the  mouth  is  defined  in  second  cl.  as  a  word 
in  season  (lit.  /«  its  time),  appropriate  to  the  situation.  The  ref- 
erence will  then  be  to  all  sorts  of  occasions  of  private  intercourse 
(business  relations,  and  other  social  and  family  relations)  and  pubUc 
affairs  in  city  and  state.  Good  —  useful,  effective. —  If  the  ivord  in 
season  be  understood  as  a  word  of  advice,  consolation,  or  general 
friendhness,  which  is  helpful  not  to  the  utterer,  but  to  others,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  omit  the  possessive  pronoun  in  first  cl.,  and 
read  frofn  an  utterance  of  the  mouth.  —  The  omission  of  the  pro- 
noun still  permits,  however,  the  first  interpretation  of  the  couplet, 
which  may  be  rendered  :  a  judicious  utterance  brings  satisfaction, 
a  seasonable  word  is  useful. 

24.   Wisdom  is  life. 

The  wise  man's  path  goes  upward,  to  life. 
He  avoids  (the  way  to)  Sheol  beneath. 

In  form  antithetic,  in  meaning  identical,  ternary.  The  second 
cl.  is  lit. :  so  as  to  turn  a^uay  from  Sheol  beneath  (=  so  that  he 
turns,  etc.)  —  appositional  proposition  put  (as  is  not  imcommon 
in  OT.)  in  the  form  of  result  (or,  what  is  the  same  thing  in  Heb., 
purpose) .  The  first  cl.  is  lit.  :  the  way  of  life  upivard is  to  {=  is 
the  way  of)  the  wise  man;  as  beneath  (or,  downward)  qualifies 


314 


PROVERBS 


Sheol,  so  upward  qualifies  way  of  life ;  the  statement  is  that  the 
way  of  Ufe  (which  is  described  as  an  upward  one)  pertains  to  the 
wise  and  not  to  the  unwise.  Sheol  stands  here  (as  everywhere  else 
in  Prov.)  for  physical  death,  and  the  Ufe  of  first  cl.  must,  accord- 
ingly, be  physical  life;  see,  for  example,  13^*  14-^  The  signifi- 
cance of  the  term  upward  is  given  in  the  paragraph  2'^-^  where 
the  way  that  leads  down  to  the  dead  is  contrasted  with  the  path 
of  the  righteous  who  continue  to  dwell  on  upper  earth ;  the 
couplet  repeats  the  familiar  belief  that  good  men  (for  wise  includes 
good)  will  enjoy  long  and  happy  life  in  this  world ;  see  notes  on 
2I9  ^18  ^6  jqU  ^.^h  di^  T\\t  rendering  of  RV.,  to  the  wise  the  way 
of  life  {goeth)  iipivard  appears  to  imply  that  there  may  be  a  way 
of  life  which  goes  in  some  other  direction  ;  that  of  Reuss  is  better  : 
the  wise  man  climbs  the  tuay  of  life.  There  is,  however,  no  refer- 
ence to  an  eminence  above  the  earth  (heaven,  for  example)  to 
which  the  wise  man  ascends  ;  men  in  OT.  (except  Enoch  and 
Elijah)  go,  after  this  life,  not  to  heaven  but  to  Sheol ;  the  upward 
is  simply  the  negation  of  the  beneath  (or,  dotvmvard).  —  There  is 
in  this  verse,  therefore,  when  its  terms  are  interpreted  in  accord- 
ance with  the  usage  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  no  intimation  of  a 
doctrine  of  happy  immortality. 

25,  26.   Divine  antagonism  to  moral  evil.     Antithetic,  ternary, 

25.  Yahweh  uproots  the  house  of  the  proud, 
But  estabUshes  the  border  of  the  widow. 

26.  Evil  devices  are  an  abomination  to  Yahweh 
[But  pleasant  words  are  pure.] 

25.  Widow  here  stands  for  any  poor,  helpless  person,  the  nat- 
ural prey  of  the  powerful  and  unscrupulous,  here  called  the  proud 
(16^"  Job  40"  \\i  94^) ;  Yahweh  is  described  as  the  protector  of  the 
weak  (so  always  the  chiefs,  kings,  and  national  deities  of  antiquity); 
he  is  the  father  of  the  orphan,  the  judge  who  secures  the  rights  of 
the  widow  (i//  68^^*^').  The  word  border  alludes  to  the  Israelitish 
law  which  endeavored  to  maintain  intact  the  landed  property  of 
every  family  by  forbidding  its  alienation  (Dt.  19")  ;  greed  of  land 
is  denounced  by  the  prophets  (Isa.  5**  Mic.  2®)  and  the  later  mor- 
alists (Job  24^  Pr.  22-'^).  The  law,  based  at  first  on  the  insepa- 
rable connection  between  land  and  citizenship,  became  later  more 


XV.  24-27  315 

directly  the  expression  of  a  sentiment  of  justice.  —  26.  Evil  de- 
vices are  tlioughts  or  plans  which  look  to  the  injury  of  others.  On 
abomination  see  note  on  3^^".  The  second  clause,  as  it  stands, 
cannot  be  original.  The  connection  calls  for  the  statement  of 
something  which  is  not  an  offence  to  Yahweh  —  the  clause  simply 
describes  certain  words.  Many  recent  commentators  and  trans- 
lators, in  order  to  secure  a  connection  between  the  two  clauses, 
insert  the  words  to  him  in  the  second  ;  but,  if  this  is  done,  the 
difficulty  remains  that  pure  {tahor)  is  not  a  proper  contrast  to 
abomination  {toeba)  ;  even  if  it  be  taken  in  a  ritualistic  sense  as 
=  clean,  its  opposite  is  unclean  {tame)  ;  in  any  case  it  is  a  singular 
epithet  to  apply  to  friendly  speech.  Grk.  (with  a  different  Heb. 
text  from  ours)  :  t/ie  sayings  of  the  pure  are  held  in  honor,  which 
gives  a  ^ood  thought,  but  not  a  satisfactory  contrast ;  Lat.  (follow- 
ing Grk.)  :  pure  speech  will  be  confinned  by  him  as  very  beautiful. 
We  should,  perhaps,  change  the  text  so  as  to  read  :  pleasant  (or, 
gracious)  words  are  well-pleasing  to  him  ;  gracious  words  will  then 
stand  as  the  sign  of  friendly  intention.  But  even  this  reading 
does  not  give  a  satisfactory  contrast  to  the  first  cl.,  and  the  line 
seems  to  be  out  of  place  as  well  as  formally  corrupt. 

27.   Against  taking  bribes. 

He  who  is  greedy  of  gain  destroys  his  own  house, 
But  he  who  hates  gifts  will  live. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary- ternary).  The  expression 
greedy  of  gain  involves  injustice  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth  (see 
note  on  i^^).  A  rebuke  of  avarice  and  highhanded  deaHng,  with 
special  reference,  in  second  cl.  (and  apparently  in  first  cl.  also) 
to  judicial  and  other  bribery.  Government  in  Oriental  lands  has 
always  included  the  giving  and  taking  of  gifts.  See  11^,  Ex.  23®, 
Ez.  22^-,  Eccl.  f.  A  greedy  unscrupulous  man  (that  is,  a  corrupt 
judge  or  magnate)  comes  to  grief,  says  the  sage ;  he  is  ruined  by 
natural  causes,  or  by  direct  intervention  of  God. 

From  this  point  onward  the  order  of  verses  in  the  Grk.  varies 
in  an  irregular  manner  from  that  of  the  Hebrew ;  the  nature  of 
the  material  (isolated  sayings)  made  such  variation  easy.  The 
arrangement  in  the  Greek  (as  in  the  Hebrew)  seems  to  be  some- 
times determined  by  verbal  resemblances,  and    there  was   here 


3l6  PROVERBS 

great  play  for  the  fancy  of  scribes.  Whether  the  advantage  in  ar- 
rangement is  with  the  Heb.  or  with  the  Greek  must  be  determined 
separately  in  every  case. 

28.  Speech  of  good  and  bad  men. 

The  righteous  considers  his  words, 

The  utterances  of  the  wicked  are  vicious. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.  the  mind  {heart)  of  the  righteous  consid- 
ers (RV.  studies)  to  anszuer,  and  the  mouth  of  the  tvicked  utters 
bad  thi?igs ;  the  Heb.  idiom  likes  to  describe  fully  processes  of 
thought  and  action.  —  The  antithesis  is  ethical,  not  merely  intel- 
lectual ;  the  meaning  is  not  that  the  righteous  speaks  cautiously, 
the  wicked  inconsiderately,  but  that  the  good  man  takes  care  to 
speak  what  is  true  and  kind,  while  the  bad  man,  feeling  no  con- 
cern on  this  point,  follows  the  bent  of  his  mind,  and  speaks  evil. 
The  propositions  are  put  as  universal,  in  accordance  with  the  eth- 
ical system  of  Proverbs,  which  recognizes  no  nice  distinctions, 
but  regards  men  as  wholly  good  or  wholly  bad.  The  verb  ren- 
dered utters  is  lit.  pours  out  (see  i^  15-),  and  is  possibly,  but  not 
probably,  meant  to  contrast  the  wicked  man's  unscrupulous 
deluge  of  words  with  the  deliberate  speech  of  the  righteous.  — 
Grk.  in  first  line  :  the  hearts  of  the  righteous  meditate  faithfulness, 
which  gives  a  better  contrast  with  second  Hne  than  the  Hebrew, 
and  should  perhaps  be  adopted. 

29.  What  prayers  are  heard. 

Yahweh  is  far  from  the  wicked, 

But  he  hears  the  prayer  of  the  righteous. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Cf.  v.l  Far  from  =  inaccessible  to,  deaf  to 
the  appeal  of.  It  is  involved  that  the  wicked  may  pray  (that  is, 
ask  for  some  favor),  but  their  prayer  will  not  be  favorably  re- 
ceived. The  case  of  a  bad  man's  repenting  is  not  considered  ; 
such  a  man,  in  the  view  of  the  OT.,  would,  by  his  repentance,  be 
transferred  from  the  category  of  the  wicked  to  that  of  the 
righteous. 


30.  Good  news. 


Pleasant  news  makes  the  heart  glad, 
Good  tidings  make  the  bones  fat. 


XV.  27-32  317 

Synonymous,  with  variation  of  terms,  ternary.  Pleasant  news  is 
lit.  light  (or,  shining)  of  the  eyes,  that  is,  the  hght  which  shines  in 
the  eyes  of  the  bringer  of  good  news  (as  the  second  cl.  suggests)  ; 
cf.  1 6^^  Job  29-*  i/'  4**  44'^'''^  89^^  The  expression  is  by  some  un- 
derstood to  mean  good  fortune,  which  gives  the  same  general 
sense ;  but  this  meaning  is  doubtful,  and  does  not  furnish  so 
direct  an  antithesis  as  the  rendering  here  adopted.  Grk.  (with  a 
variation  of  text)  :  the  eye  which  sees  beautiful  things.  Fat  bones 
are  those  which  are  full  of  marrow ;    cf.  ^  63'"^',  and  notes  on 

31-33.   Docility  and  humility. 

31.  He  who  hearkens  to  life-giving  admonition 
Will  dwell  among  the  wise. 

32.  He  who  rejects  instruction  slights  himself, 

But  he  who  regards  admonition  gains  understanding. 

33.  The  fear  of  Yahweh  is  instruction  in  wisdom, 
And  before  honor  goes  humility. 

31.  Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  the  ear  that  heark- 
ens to  the  admonition  of  life  ;  the  ear  =  the  man  ;  on  admonition 
(or,  reproof)  see  note  on  i^^  Dwell  is  properly  lodge,  pass  the 
night  (Gen.  19-  2  Sam.  17^  Job  31''"),  but  the  term  is  used  in 
poetry  to  express  permanent  dwelling  (19^^  Job  19'*  xp  91'). 
Teachableness  is  the  key  that  unlocks  the  door  of  the  sages. 
The  observation  is  a  general  one,  but  has  an  academic  coloring. 
The  life  is  of  this  world,  and  primarily  physical  (see  3^  al.),  but 
involves  the  higher  moral  and  religious  elements.  To  divell  with 
the  wise  is  synonym  of  success  and  happiness,  knowledge  is  the 
fundamental  fact  in  life. — The  abrupt  and  vigorous  synecdoche 
which,  in  second  cl.,  puts  ear  for  ma7i,  is  especially  natural  in 
gnomic  poetry.  —  32.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  On  instruc- 
tion see  note  on  i" ;  admonition,  as  in  preceding  couplet.  Slight 
is  despise,  lightly  esteem,  then  treat  slightingly,  and  reject  as  being 
of  small  value  (i  Sam.  8'  Job  5^^  Pr.  3").  One  who  refuses  to  be 
taught  fails  to  become  wise,  and  thus  puts  a  slight  on  himself, 
treats  himself  as  being  of  small  account.  The  contrast  to  this  is 
stated  clearly  in  second  clause.  The  Heb.  has  a  formal  antithe- 
sis which  cannot   be    reproduced   in    English :    slights   his   soul 


3l8  PROVERBS 

(=  personality,  self)  .  .  .  gains  heart  (=  understanding)  ;  the 
parallelism  forbids  us  to  take  soul  as  —  life.  The  Greek  transla- 
tor abandons  the  text  in  order  to  get  the  sharp  contrast :  hates 
himself  .  .  .  loves  his  own  soul.  Here,  as  in  the  preceding 
couplet,  understanding,  knowledge,  wisdom,  is  the  essential  thing 
in  life,  the  synonym  of  well-being.  —  33.  Quaternary-ternary. 
The  connection  between  the  two  clauses  is  not  explicit  —  one  of 
them  is  perhaps  out  of  place  ;  but  see  below.  The  fear  of  Yah- 
weh  is  elsewhere  described  as  the  beginning  of  knoivledge  (i^)  or 
of  wisdom  (9^°),  and  here,  in  substantially  the  same  sense,  as  the 
instruction  of  wisdom,  that  is,  the  ijistruction  which  wisdom  gives, 
or,  more  probably,  instruction  in  wisdojn.  The  latter  expression 
is,  therefore,  the  proper  subject  of  the  sentence  :  the  material  or 
the  essence  of  wisdom  is  reverent  regard  for  the  divine  law,  for 
(as  Pr.  elsewhere  declares)  this  law  is  the  perfect  expression  of 
the  truth  of  Ufe,  and  obedience  to  it  ensures  safe  guidance  and 
perfect  happiness.  This  fundamental  conception,  the  identity  of 
divine  wisdom  and  human  wisdom,  is  thus  common  to  the  two 
Divisions,  chs.  1-9  and  chs.  10^-22"^.  See  notes  on  1^  9^".  —  The 
proper  antithesis  to  second  cl.  is  found  in  18^' :  pride  leads  to  de- 
struction as  humility  to  honor ;  but  a  connection  between  humility 
and  the  fear  of  Yahweh  is  given  in  22'*,  which  is  an  expansion  of 
this  clause.  According  to  22*  the  two  things  are  substantially  the 
same  :  humility  is  a  reverent  attitude  toward  God  as  supreme  and 
holy  ruler.  If  the  term  be  so  understood  here,  the  honor  is  the 
reward  (as  in  22*)  which  God  bestows  on  those  who  obey  him, 
and  our  couplet  contains  an  expanded  parallelism  :  the  fear  of 
God  is  7visdom,  and  it  entails  honor — first  the  intellectual  product 
of  reverence,  and  then  its  reward.  On  the  other  hand,  18^^,  com- 
pared with  16^^,  suggests  that  it  is  the  natural  social  law  that  is 
here  contemplated  :  humble  demeanor  procures  friends  and 
honor,  as  pride  makes  enemies  and  leads  to  downfall.  Probably 
both  conceptions  of  the  aphorism  were  held,  and  the  gnomic 
writers  used  one  or  the  other  as  suited  their  purposes.  The  iden- 
tity of  the  two  conceptions  results  from  the  doctrine  that  God  is 
the  author  of  natural  law. 

22.    (5   ixT]   TiiJ.CovT€s  =  ap   (|t^    r>>'2);    ^^  Kapdlais  =  ^'-■^   (^   2^3).  —  The 
insertion  of  li- ;  counsel  at  end  of  **  ((gSST)  is  adopted  by  Bi.,  who  refers  to 


XV.  32-XVI.  319 

the  sing.  ^p~;  this  insertion  is  possible,  but  hardly  necessary;  Gr.  nnir'n:;  ri^sn. 
■ —  On  Si,  which  follows  ©,  but  with  arbitrary  changes,  see  Baum.  Pinkuss.  — 
23.  (!B  oil  /xTj  VTraKoijffTj  6  kok^s  air^  oiid^  (jlt]  dirr)  Kalpidu  ti  Kai  KaXbv  r(p  koiv(^ 
=  2b  no  inv3  -i3-;i  n^3  njyca  ti'vS  yr^Z'^  n^,  the  man  being  interpreted  as  KaK6s, 
and  the  couplet  freely  rendered  throughout. — As  to  the  original  sense  of  the 
stem  nj;  answer  cf.  Ges.  7'/ies.,  and  Arab,  •■j;',  >j;'c.  —  24.  J^  "''^;;-'^;  ®  5iaw^- 
/xara,  perh.  after  Ez.  11^,  perh.  =  raw'nn;  cf.  Jag.  Lag.  —  |fc^  nj:, ;  (5  (ru}6rj, 
perh.  =  'i'^'::  (Baum.),  or  nrj-^-;  (Jag.).  —  26.  On  ''  sec  note  on  this  verse  above. 
(5  ayvCov  5^  prjcreis  ae/xfal,  in  which  it  is  doubtful  what  Heb.  word  cr.  repre- 
sents. For  1^  a-iirj  we  should  perhaps  read  ^ji-i.  —  27.  Instead  of  o-ciftrat 
(11?  n\-i>)  23.  103.  252.  253  have  ^rjaerai,  a.  correction  after  the  Heb.  —  See 
notes  of  Lag.  and  Baum.  on  the  dislocation  of  couplets  at  this  point.  —  28.  In 
8^  242, ;//  2I  n:in  is  followed  by  the  object  directly,  in  1/'  771^  1430  by  3  and 
object,  here  by  3  in  &^;  as,  however,  the  object  is  here  an  act,  the  '7  is 
appropriate. — '^~y:^;  (3^  irliXTeis;  <§'^^  iria-TLv;  5'2u  (following  (5)  .srjx:'.""; 
these  Vrss.  seem  to  have  had  njcx  or  pjcn,  which  should  perhaps  be  adopted 
in  |i^.  —  30.  |§  u^y;  -\>iZ;  (5  16-  deojpQu  6(pda\ix6s  KaXa,  free  rendering  of  pj 
taken  to  mean  "  what  the  eye  sees."  The  Heb.  expression  does  not  occur 
elsewhere  in  OT.,  but  appears  to  mean  //le  light  that  resides  in  the  eyes  (cf. 
^  90^) ;  for  the  rendering  good  fortune  there  is  no  authority  in  O  T. ;  ^!<a 
occurs  only  in  late  writings  (from  Ez.  on).  —  31.  Lacking  in  (§,  probably 
by  scribal  accident.  The  rendering  in  S^  appears  to  be  based  on  that  of 
AS0E;  these  Vrss.  and  S'2C  =  |^;  S>^^  differs  from  Si  in  a  couple  of  words.  — • 
32.  1^  Dsb  and  T\p;  (g  16*,  freely,  to  gain  a  distinct  contrast,  ^iffeZ  and 
■  ayawq..  —  33.  pj  nin-;  (g  (16*)  ^  «!■  Beov;  (gB.i.x  Kvpiov;  which  of  these  is 
original  in  the  Grk.  it  is  hard  to  say.  — 1§  iDr ;  Perles,  Analekt.  p.  60:  ■'Dn 
basis,  which  is  suitable,  but  the  change  is  not  necessary.  —  See  H-P,  Lag 
Swete. 

XVI.  1-9.  Divine  control  of  life. 

1.  To  man  belong  the  plans  of  the  mind. 

But  from  Yahweh  comes  the  answer  of  the  tongue. 

2.  All  a  man's  conduct  seems  to  him  pure, 
But  it  is  Yahweh  who  weighs  the  spirit. 

3.  Commit  thy  work  to  Yahweh, 
Then  will  thy  plans  succeed. 

4.  Yahweh  has  made  everything  for  its  own  end, 
•      Yea,  even  the  wicked  for  the  evil  day. 

5.  The  proud  man  is  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 
He  will  assuredly  not  go  unpunished. 

6.  By  kindness  and  truth  sin  is  expiated. 

And  by  the  fear  of  Yahweh  one  escapes  misfortune. 

7.  When  a  man's  ways  please  Yahweh, 

He  makes  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him. 


320  PROVERBS 

8.  Better  is  a  little  with  righteousness 
Than  great  revenues  with  injustice. 

9,  Man  devises  his  way, 

But  Yahweh  directs  his  steps. 

1.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  binary).  This  proverb  is  identical  in 
meaning  with  v.^,  and  with  our  ''man  proposes,  God  disposes"; 
see  Malan  for  Chinese  and  other  parallels.  Plans  is  arrange- 
mefits  (RV.  preparations)  ;  mind  is  lit.  heart;  the  answer  of  the 
tongue  =  the  final  outcome  of  one's  reflections  and  purposes.  To 
regard  the  couplet  as  contrasting  merely  thought  and  expression 
(De.)  is  to  empty  it  of  meaning;  Mt.  10^^  (referred  to  by  De.) 
is  different.  The  idea  of  God's  absolute  control  of  human  affairs 
is  found  throughout  OT.,  as,  for  ex.,  in  Am.  3*^  i//  118^  Ex.  io\  cf. 
Rom.  9^^  In  the  term  ansiver  there  is  possibly  allusion  to  the 
task  of  speaking  (defending  one's  self,  etc.)  before  great  men 
(PVank.).  See  22-^,  and  note  on  15-^  —  2.  Antithetic,  ternary. 
See  3^  14^^  21"  24^^.  Contrast  between  human  and  divine  moral 
judgments.  The  first  cl.  does  not  mean  to  affirm  that  men  never 
condemn  their  own  conduct,  but  states  a  general  rule  of  human 
self-satisfaction,  or  is  in  the  nature  of  a  supposition,  so  that  the 
couplet  may  be  paraphrased :  "  though  a  man's  actions  may  seem 
right  to  him,  ignorant  and  prejudiced  as  he  is,  yet  the  final  ver- 
dict on  them  comes  from  the  infallible  investigation  of  God." 
The  suggestion  is  that  men  should  not  take  their  own  judgment  of 
themselves,  but  should  test  themselves  by  the  judgment  of  God, 
that  is,  by  the  absolutely  pure  moral  standard.  Conduct  and 
spirit  are  lit.  zvays  and  spirits ;  the  latter  term  expresses  the 
whole  inward  nature,  its  purposes  and  motives ;  weighs  =  meas- 
ures, determines,  tries,  appreciates. — In  i  Sam.  16^^  we  have  a 
somewhat  different  contrast,  namely,  between  human  judgment 
based  on  the  merely  outward  and  visible,  and  divine  judgment 
which  regards  the  mind.  —  3.  Continuous,  ternary-binary.  Lit. 
roll  on  Yahtveh  thy  works  (or,  deeds),  trust  everything  to  him  ;  so 
i/'  37^,  cf  \p  2  2'-^"'.  Syr.  Targ.  Lat.  read  disclose.  —  V.^'^  are  lack- 
ing in  the  Greek.  —  4.  Continuous,  ternary.  The  Heb.  permits 
the  translation  for  his  own  end,  but  the  rendering  its  is  indicated 
by  second  cl.,  which  states  the  end  or  destiny  for  which  wicked 
men  are  created.     The  proverb  declares,  in  a  simple  and  direct 


XVI.  1-5  321 

way,  the  principle  (recognized  everywhere  in  OT.)  of  the  abso- 
luteness of  Yahweh's  government  of  the  world,  and  it  is  added 
that  every  one   of  his  acts  has  a  definite    purpose  ;    since  the 
wicked  are  punished,  it  is  Yahweh  who  has  created  them  to  that 
end.     This  predestination  to  evil  (to  use  the  modern  expression) 
is  held  in  OT.,  without  metaphysical  speculation  and  without  em- 
barrassment, in  connection  with  the  belief  in  human  freedom  — 
men  are  considered  to  be  either  good  or  bad,  but  the  good  man 
may  at  any  moment  become  bad,  or  the  bad  man  good  ;    see  Ex. 
9>«  Ez.   i4«  i8,  BS.  39^*^^  cf.  Eccl.  3"^  —  Grk.  reads:    all  the 
zvorks  of  the  Lord  {are  done)  with  righteousness,  and  the  wicked 
man  is  kept  for  the  evil  ^^n-.  — The  evil  day  is  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, retribution,  punishment.  — The  prophets  regard  the  nations 
of  the  earth  as  controlled  by  Yahweh  in  the  interests  of  Israel ; 
the  sage   considers    individual   men  as  created  with  a  purpose. 
This  larger  view  belongs  to  the  philosophic  period  of  Jewish  his- 
tory.    What  God's  purpose  is  in  creating  the  wicked  for  punish- 
ment the  proverb  does  not  say.     According  to  Ezekiel  (Ez.  38'" 
39-I)  Gog  is  punished  that  Yahweh  may  manifest  his  power  and 
glory  to  all  nations,  and  so  in  the  Pentateuch  Pharaoh  is  dealt 
with  (Ex.  9^  cf.  Rom.  9^')-      The  sage's  point  of  view  is  not 
clear  — it  is,  perhaps,  that  the  moral  government  of  the  world 
makes  the  punishment  of  the  bad  man  necessary  ;  but  no  explana- 
tion is  given  of  why  the  bad  man  should  have  been  created  at  all. 
There  is  no  intimation  of  a  behef  that  the  wicked  are  a  neces- 
sary element  of  God's  education  of  the  world  (cf.  BS.  15'^)-  — 
5.    Continuous,    ternary-binary.      The   first   cl.   is   the    same   as 
first  cl.  of  11'",  with  substitution  oi  proud  iox  false ;  the  proud 
man  is  he  who  sets  himself  presumptuously  against  Yahweh,  and 
refuses  to  obey  the  divine    law.      The  second  cl.  is  the  same 
as  first  cl.  of  i  I'S  with  omission  of  the  wicked;  on  the  expres- 
sion assuredly  (lit.  hand  to  hand,  =  my  hand  oti  it!)  see  note 

21 
on  II   . 

Grk.  here  inserts  the  two  couplets  : 

The  beginning  of  a  good  way  is  to  do  justly, 
And  it  is  more  acceptalile  with  God  than  to  offer  sacrifices. 
He  who  seeks  the  Lord  will  find  knowledge  with  righteousness, 
And  they  who  rightly  seek  him  will  find  peace. 
Y 


322 


PROVERBS 


These  couplets  (which  may  have  been  written  originally  in  He- 
brew) resemble  proverbs  in  our  Hebrew  text ;  the  first  may  have 
been  suggested  by  16",  the  second  by  28^  (cf.  14'').  It  is  prob- 
able that  many  aphorisms  were  in  circulation  which  are  not  in- 
cluded in  our  Book  of  Proverbs;  some  of  these  are  found  in  the 
Greek  text  of  Proverbs,  others  in  Ben-Sira.  —  6.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  expression  kindness  and  truth  stands  for  morality 
or  virtue  in  general ;  so  it  is  used  in  3'',  on  which  see  note.  By 
such  ethical  integrity  siii  (or,  iniquity^  is  expiated  (lit.  covered), 
that  is,  the  divine  anger  against  sin  is  turned  away,  and  the 
man's  relation  to  God  is  as  though  he  had  not  sinned.  The 
priestly  mode  of  expiating  sin  was  by  offerings,  but  prophets 
and  sages  lay  the  greater  stress  on  disposition  of  mind  and 
on  conduct ;  see  Hos.  6®  (where  love  to  God  and  knowledge 
of  him  are  said  to  be  more  desired  by  Yahweh  than  sacrifice), 
Jer.  7"-^'^  (where  Yahweh  is  said  to  have  commanded  not  sacrifice 
but  obedience)  ;    cf.  Ez.  18  i//  50"  ^ii^ircis.  19)  .    jj.^  jg^^^  ^^2  ^^^  ^^^ 

of  Jerusalem  is  said  to  have  been  expiated  by  her  suffering.  —  The 
fear  of  Yahweh  is  parallel  and  equivalent  to  kindness  (or,  love) 
and  truth;  and  misfortune  (or,  suffering),  lit.  evil,  is  identical 
with  the  punishment  which  is  averted  when  sin  is  expiated. — 
7.  Continuous,  ternary.  Grk.  (the  couplet  occurs  after  15-^)  : 
the  ways  of  lighteous  men  are  acceptable  with  the  Lord,  and  by 
them  even  enemies  become  friends,  which  is  identical  in  meaning 
with  the  Hebrew  ;  the  form  of  the  latter  seems  preferable.  In- 
stead of  the  by  them  of  the  Greek  we  should  perhaps  read  to  them. 
In  the  Heb.  couplet  the  happy  condition  of  the  righteous  is 
brought  about  directly  by  divine  action  ;  but  human  causes,  such- 
as  the  kindliness  and  helpfulness  of  the  good  man,  are  probably 
not  meant  to  be  excluded.  —  8.  Comparison,  ternary.  Substan- 
tially identical  with  15^".  The  proverb  differs  from  the  others  of 
the  group  in  not  containing  an  explicit  reference  to  the  divine 
government;  but  righteousness  =  the  fear  of  Yalnueh  (15'"). — 
9.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Identical  in  meaning  with  v.\  Lit.  the 
mind  (heart)  of  man  devises  (or,  thinks  out,  plans').  Grk.  :  let  the 
heart  of  a  man  think  (or,  reckon^  justly,  that  his  steps  may  be  set 
right  by  God,  which  misses  the  striking  antithesis  of  the  Heb.,  but 
gives  a  good  thought;  \\\t  justly  is  added  from  the  connection. — 


XVI.  5-9  323 

In  v.^-  ^  we  have  two  substantially  identical  aphorisms  in  close  prox- 
imity. One  is  a  variant  of  the  other,  perhaps  in  a  different  collec- 
tion ;  the  editors  naturally  took  all  good  material  that  they  found. 

10-15.   Functions  of  kings. 

The  couplets  are  extended  parallelisms.  The  reference  is  to 
all  sovereigns,  not  merely  to  those  of  Israel ;  if,  as  is  probable, 
the  paragraph  is  postexilian  in  date,  it  is  the  numerous  non- 
Jewish  monarchs  of  the  Greek  period  (possibly,  also,  the  Macca- 
bean  princes)  that  formed  the  writer's  milieu.  It  is,  however, 
the  ideal  king  whose  character  is  here  sketched  (except  in  v."-'^), 
whether  the  proverbs  be  preexilian  or  postexilian — ^  the  king  who 
governs  in  wisdom  and  justice.  In  such  ideal  portraitures  in  the 
Prophets  and  the  Psalms  (Isa.  ii'"^  i/^  72)  the  king  is  guided  by 
God,  and  controlled  by  the  divine  law  ;  here,  and  elsewhere  in 
this  part  of  Prov.,  the  reference  is  to  the  human  law  of  right  (in 
8'*  to  the  personified  divine-human  wisdom).  The  term  "theo- 
cratic "  can  be  used  of  the  Israelitish  kings  only  in  the  vague  way 
in  which  it  is  applicable  to  all  ancient  sovereigns  —  they  all  per- 
formed religious  rites,  and  consulted  the  deity  in  important  affairs. 
The  kings  of  Israel  were  as  arbitrary  and  absolute  as  the  inde- 
pendent spirit  of  the  clans,  tribes,  elders,  and  princes  permitted 
them  to  be  —  hardly  one  of  them  paid  much  respect  to  the  moral 
law  of  Yahweh  in  his  political  policy  or  his  private  concerns.  De- 
litzsch  observes  that  the  OT.  never  speaks  of  the  actual  king  as 
infallible  ;  the  idea  "  the  king  can  do  no  wrong  "  did  not  exist  in 
Israel.  —  Reference  to  kings  is  found  both  in  chs.  1-9  and  in  chs. 
1 0-3 1 . 

10.  The  lips  of  the  king  are  an  oracle, 

In  judgment  his  mouth  transgresses  not. 

11.  []   Balance  and  scales  are  >  the  king's,' 
All  the  weights  of  the  bag  are  his  work. 

12.  It  is  abomination  to  kings  to  commit  wickedness, 
For  the  throne  is  established  by  righteousness. 

13.  Righteous  lips  are  the  delight  of  kings, 
And  they  love  him  who  speaks  right. 

14.  The  anger  of  the  king  is  a  messenger  of  death, — • 
A  wise  man  will  pacify  it. 

15.  In  the  light  of  the  king's  countenance  is  life, 
And  his  favor  is  like  a  cloud  of  the  Spring  rain. 


324  PROVERBS 

10.  Binary.  Lit.  on  the  lips  .  .  .  is  an  oracular  decision  (RV. 
divine  sentence)  :  the  decision  of  the  ideal  king  is  as  just  as  if 
God  himself  had  given  it  —  that  is,  as  second  cl.  puts  it,  he  does 
not  violate  justice  ;  judgment  =  legal  decision.  The  meaning  (as 
may  be  inferred  from  the  parallel  proverbs  in  chs.  10-31)  is  not 
that  God  speaks  through  the  king.  Delitzsch's  rendering  :  let  not 
his  mouth  err  is  out  of  the  question. — The  term  oracular  decision 
is  Y\i(^x3\\y  divination,  the  consultation  of  the  deity  (Ez.  21^^'"^'  Nu. 
23^)  ;  the  practice  was  condemned  by  the  prophets  as  generally 
connected  with  the  worship  of  other  gods  than  Yahweh  (i  Sam. 
15^^  Dt.  i8^°  2  K.  17''),  or  with  false  pretensions  to  speaking  in 
his  name  (Jer.  14^*  Ez.  13®).     Here  the  term  is  used  figuratively. 

—  Bickell  emends  to  oracle  0/  Yahweh,  but  the  addition  is  unnec- 
essary—  the  divine  name  is  understood.  — 11.  Ternary-binary. 
Weights  is  lit.  stones,  which  were  kept  in  a  bag.  From  Am.  8^  we 
may,  perhaps,  infer  that,  as  earb  as  the  eighth  century  b.c,  the 
Israelites  had  a  legal  standard  of  weights  and  measures  (and,  for 
the  sixth  century,  cf.  Ez.  45"''^"  ;  it  is  possible,  indeed,  that  the 
Babylonians  had  introduced  their  system  into  Canaan  in  or  before 
the  fifteenth  century.*  It  may  be  assumed  that,  after  the  Exile, 
under  the  Persians  and  the  Greeks,  the  Jews  had  a  regular  system 
of  stamped  weights  of  stone  or  metal.  —  The  balajice  is  the  steel- 
yard—cf.  11'  2oi»-^-^  Am.  8^  Hos.  \2^^^'^  Mic.  6"  Lev.  19^6  Jer.  32!". 

—  In  the  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  are  Yahweh'' s,  for  which  it  seems 
better  (with  Gratz)  to  read  are  the  king's,  with  the  sense  that 
the  system  of  weights  and  measures  is  ordained  by  the  king  as 
supreme  authority  and  fountain  of  justice  ;  this  emendation  brings 
the  couplet  into  formal  accord  with  the  context.  As  the  text 
stands,  God  is  the  ordainer  of  the  machinery  of  commercial  trans- 
actions, a  statement  which  is  not  elsewhere  found  in  OT.  —  he  is 
said  (as  in  Lev.  icf'^  al.)  to  demand  just  weights,  he  is  not  said  to 
make  or  establish  them.  The  word  hing  may  have  been  inter- 
preted by  some  scribe  as  meaning  the  divine  king,  Yahweh.  —  In 
the  first  line  the  Heb.  reads:   balance  and  Just  weights  are,  etc. 

*  The  Babylonian  predominance  in  Canaan  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
Amarna  correspondence  employs  Babylonian  script  and  language.  On  early 
Babylonian  weights  and  measures  see  C.  F.  Lehmann,  Altbabylon.  Maass-  und 
Gewichtssystcm,  1893,  and  G.  A.  Reisner  on  Bab.  metrology. 


XVI.  IO-I5  325 

It  is  singular  that  the  adjective  just  should  be  attached  to  one  of 
these,  and  not  to  the  other.  The  Lat.  avoids  this  difificulty  by 
rendering  (with  a  slight  change  of  text)  :  balance  and  scales  are 
{inatter  of)  judgment  for  Yahweh,  that  is,  he  has  to  decide  all 
cases  in  which  a  false  use  of  them  occurs.  But  this  interpretation 
of  the  term  judgment  is  difficult,  and  the  resulting  sentence  does 
not  offer  a  proper  parallel  to  the  second  line.  It  would  be  better 
to  omit  the  word  balance  (which  would  get  rid  of  the  difficulty), 
but  a  more  satisfactory  sentence  is  gained  by  omitting  the  adjec- 
tive, which  is  here  not  appropriate  —  as  second  cl.  states  that  all 
stones  are  the  work,  etc.,  so  first  cl.  must  state  that  balance  and 
weights  in  general  belong,  etc.  A  scribe  might  naturally  think  it 
desirable  to  note  that  the  balances  are  just.  —  The  rendering  d! 
just  balance  and  scales  are,  etc.,  given  by  many  commentators 
and  translations,*  is  grammatically  incorrect.  — 12.  Ternary.  Cf. 
Dt.  17^^-2*'  Isa.  32'.  The  affirmation  includes  all  kings  considered 
as  ideal  rulers ;  such  rulers  understand  that  justice  is  essential  to 
their  permanence.  Grk.,  less  well :  he  who  does  evil  is  an  abomi- 
nation, etc.  —  Cf.  2  Sam.  7""^'  i/' 94-"  Isa.  16';  similar  aphorisms 
are  20-^  25'  29". — 13.  Ternary.  Good  kings  desire  honest  coun- 
sellors and  servants.  The  verb  love  is  sing,  in  the  Hebrew,  either 
individualizing  ("every  king  loves"),  or  agreeing'  with  a  sing. 
king,  instead  of  the  kings  of  the  text,  or  error  for  plural.  — 
14.  Binary.  The  Heb.  has  plural  messengers.  The  sense  of 
second  cl.  is  probably  not  "it  maybe  pacified  by  a  wise  man" 
(that  is,  by  wise  precautions  or  other  measures),  but  "he  who  is 
wise  will  seek  to  pacify  it"  (instead  of  braving  it).  The  point  of 
the  couplet  is  to  magnify  the  king,  not  the  wise  man,  and  the 
second  line  is  more  naturally  understood  as  adding  something  to 
the  statement  of  the  first  line  :  the  king's  anger  is  so  terrible  a 
thing  that  a  man  shows  wisdom  in  trying  to  pacify  it.  The  king 
is  represented  as  absolute,  as  was  true,  in  many  respects,  of  all 
ancient  monarchs ;  this  trait  is  not  necessarily  out  of  keeping  with 
his  ideal  character;  the  couplet,  however,  rather  regards  him 
simply  as  ruler.  — 15.    Binary.     The  antithesis  to  tUe  preceding 


*  Geier,  Ew.  De.  Str.  RV.  al.     These  assume  an  exception  to  the  grammatical 
rule.     Zockler :   scale  and  just  balances. 


326  PROVERBS 

aphorism.  The  light  of  the  coufitenatice  is  a  friendly  look,  —favor, 
g?'acious  reception ;  the  word  for  light  is  different  from  that  used 
in  15^,  but  the  general  sense  is  the  same.  —  Life  is  long  and 
happy  hfe,  =  prosperity.  The  king,  here  as  in  v.",  is  regarded 
simply  as  the  arbiter  of  fate  ;  his  moral  qualities  do  not  come  into 
consideration.  —  The  Spring  rain  ("latter  rain,"  March-April) 
was  essential  to  the  ripening  of  the  crops,  and  the  cloiid  which 
heralded  it  was  a  symbol  of  blessing ;  see  Jer.  3''  Zech.  10'  Job 
29-^;  the  Autumn  rain  ("former  rain,"  October)  preceded  the 
sowing  (Hos.  6'  Dt.  11"  Jer.  5'*  Joel  2-^  if/  84*=''>).  For  details  of 
agriculture  see  Nowack,  Arch.  I.  §  41. 

XVI.  1.  Wanting  in  (S^,  found  in  5,H(523ai.  ^gi;^^.  (§252.253 a!.  _gH  add  fiery 
liiyas  el  toctovtov  Tarreivov  aeavrbv  koI  '4vavTL  Kvplov  rov  6eov  evprjcreis  X'*P"'> 
=  BS.  3!^,  and  perhaps  thence  taken  by  (5"''-"'-.  — 2.  The  adj.  fr  occurs  only  in 
the  late  priestly  ritual  (Ex.  27'^°  30^^  Lev.  242-^),  Job,  Prov.,  but  the  verb  njr  is 
found  in  Isa.  i^*^  Mic.  6^^.  —  The  stem  pr,.=  establish,  appears  to  be  a  second- 
ary formation  from  p;  the  origin  of  the  sense  -weigh,  test  is  not  clear.  Gr., 
unnecessarily,  jn3. — The  couplet  is  not  found  in  this  form  in  (§^;  something 
like  it  appears  in  (§  16^,  which  is  nearly  related  to  the  added  couplet  given 
above  under  v> ;  cf.  BS.  3517- 18.  —  3.  Wanting  in  (5^,  found  in  eS"(g23  ai.^ 
perhaps  a  late  addition  to  pj,  after  '/'37^.  —  On  v}  3  see  notes  of  Lag.  Baum, 
Bi.  —  4,  =  9  in  ©.  —  |^  '??f';  (5  ep7a.  —  |^  sj;  (§  ^uXdo-o-erai,  =  icr.  This 
is  probably  a  mere  scribal  variation,  and  not  an  attempt  to  avoid  the  statement 
that  God  destines  the  wicked  to  punishment  (Pink.,  who  refers  to  Baethgen, 
JPT.  8,  413).  —  (§'s  rendering  of  inj^cV  by  ywera  Si/caioo-yi'???  is  accounted  for 
by  Held,  from  the  Rabbin,  reference  of  the  Heb.  expression  to  students  of  law; 
but,  like  9r  those  who  obey  him,  @  simply  takes  the  form  in  1^  as  =  obey.  —  In 
1^  nv;o'^  the  vowel-point  under  ^7  may  be  scribal  error,  or  it  may  be  anoma- 
lously inserted  to  distinguish  this  expression  from  the  prep,  tjjn'?  with  suffix  (so 
Ew.  De.  Philippi).  —  5,  =  6  in  (§. — |^  p^'J"';  (§  d/cd^opros  (cf  ^8e\vyfjia, 
15-^).  — 10.  CD|i,  originally  part,  fragment  (Arab,  portion),  from  stem  =: 
divide  ;  divination  is  perhaps  from  the  fragments  (of  stone,  etc.)  which  were 
used  in  divining  processes  (Halevy,  REJ.,  1887),  perhaps  from  the  verb  = 
divide,  determine  {2Xt%. —  11.  The  stems  dSd  and  ]rN  (Arab,  wazan)  appear 
to  express  the  idea  of  evenness,  equality.  —  OD-'D  qualifies  only  •'JTNC,  not  dSd; 
see  Philippi,  Stat.  Const,  im  Heb.,  p.  12  ff.  (5  poiry]  ^vyov  diKaLoaiivq  irapa  k.  — 
mn^S  tOD^'D  n^:TND  0^2,  taking  as'i-c  as  pred.,  and  so  &%.  The  oqcd  is  better 
omitted  as  gloss.  —  |^  nin^*?;  read,  with  Gr.,  i'?d'^;  see  note  on  this  v.  above. 
— 12.  S  read  n^vn  and  n'^'>',  the  latter  word  qualifying  dd^c;  SST  appear  to 
have  been  influenced  by  <S;  see  Baum,  Pink.  — 13.  |^  3nx>,  Qal;  IL  Nif  (and 
so  Jag.) ;  if  a  change  is  thought  necessary,  it  will  be  better  to  write  the 
vb.  Qal.  plur.,  or  (with  (5)  the  noun  sing.,  n'^c.  — 14.    |^  "'Dn'^!:;    <§,  sing.,  is 


XVI.  15-17  327 

better.  — 15.  i;'pS::  is,  perhaps,  originally  titne  of  gathering,  and  mb,  n-\'> 
sprinkler.  On  the  reading  of  2C  see  Flcisch.,  in  Levy,  Chald.  Wort.,  I.  420, 
and  on  SST  cf.  the  notes  of  Baum.  and  Pink. 

16-19.   Wisdom,  integrity,  humility. 

16.  Wisdom  is  better  than  gold, 

And  understanding  more  to  be  desired  than  silver. 

17.  The  path  of  the  upright  avoids  misfortune, 
He  guards  his  life  who  takes  heed  to  his  way. 

18.  "Pride  goes  before  destruction, 
And  a  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall. 

19.  It  is  better  to  be  of  a  lowly  spirit  with  the  poor 
Than  to  divide  the  spoil  with  the  proud. 

16.  Two  equivalent  comparisons,  ternary.  Lit.  the  getting  of  wis- 
dom and  the  getting  of  understanding ;  for  the  terms  see  note  on 
3'^  Fully  expressed  :  "  the  acquisition  of  wisdom  is  better  than 
that  of  gold,"  etc.  The  Heb.  of  first  cl.  reads  :  the  getting  of  wis- 
dom—  how  much  better  is  it  than  gold!  but  the  how  i7iuch  is 
probably  scribal  error.  The  identity  of  the  thought  of  this 
couplet  with  that  of  3'''  is  an  indication  that  the  final  form  was 
given  to  the  two  sections,  chs.  1-9  and  chs.  10-22^^,  about  the 
same  time.  — 17.  Identical,  ternary-quaternary.  In  second  cl, 
he  who  pays  careful  attention  to  his  (moral)  conduct  is  said  thus 
to  guard  or  preserve  his  life  (or,  himself,  lit.  his  soul)  — that  is, 
integrity  is  a  guard  against  rnisfortune  —  this  is  the  familiar  teach- 
ing of  Proverbs ;  in  accordance  with  the  parallelism  the  evil  of 
first  cl.  (as  the  Heb.  lit.  reads)  is  naturally  misfortune,  which  the 
path  of  the  upright  avoids.  The  interpretation  "  the  conduct  of 
the  upright  consists  in  avoiding  moral  evil "  is  possible,  but  does 
not  furnish  an  antithesis.  —  The  second  cl.  may  be  rendered:  he 
who  guards  his  life  (or,  himself)  takes  heed  to  his  way,  that  is,  he 
who  desires  to  have  a  good,  happy  life  looks  carefully  to  his  con- 
duct. Combining  this  with  the  second  rendering  of  first  cl.,  the 
couplet  would  mean  :  "  a  good  man  avoids  wrong,  and  he  who 
has  care  for  himself  looks  to  his  conduct,"  which  (if  we  may  be 
guided  by  the  context)  is  less  satisfactory  than  the  interpretation  : 
"  the  upright  man  escapes  misfortune,  and  he  who  is  careful  in 
his  conduct  saves  his  life"  —  the  surrounding  couplets  deal  not 
with  the  method  of  securing  happiness,  but  with  the  results  of 


328  PROVERBS 

good  living.  —  Grk.,  adding  three  lines  after  first  cl.  of  v.^",  and 
one  line  after  second  cl.,  makes  three  couplets,  as  follows  : 

The  paths  of  life  turn  aside  from  evils, 
And  the  ways  of  righteousness  are  length  of  life. 
He  who  receives  instruction  will  be  prosperous, 
And  he  who  regards  reproofs  will  be  made  wise. 
He  who  guards  his  ways  preserves  his  soul, 
And  he  who  loves  his  life  will  spare  his  mouth. 

This  is  probably  a  scribe's  expansion  of  the  Hebrew  couplet ;  the 
matter  is  all  to  be  found  in  the  Heb.  Proverbs.  — 18.  Identical, 
binary.  Cf.  ii"  (pride  brings  disgrace),  15^  (humility  brings 
honor),  16'^  iS^'  (contrast  of  pride  and  humility),  21-^  22'*  30'^ 
The  reference  seems  to  be  to  the  social  laws  and  conditions  which 
tend  to  abase  pride.  The  English  "  pride  will  have  a  fall "  may  be 
derived  from  this  proverb.  — 19.  Chiastic  comparison,  ternary. 
With  loiuly  is  contrasted  proud,  and  with  poor  the  rich  who  divide 
the  spoil.  Instead  oi  poor  we  might  render  by  hiiinbk  (RV.  marg. 
meek),  but  this  would  destroy  the  antithesis,  and  introduce  a  tau- 
tology, since  lowly  =  humble.  The  terms  lozuly  and  proud  are 
here  ethical,  =  the  unassuming  or  inoffensive,  and  the  overbearing 
or  oppressive  :  they  have,  perhaps,  also  a  religious  import,  =  those 
who  submit  themselves  to  God,  and  those  who  disobey  and  disre- 
gard him.  —  The  expression  divide  the  spoil  is  taken  from  military 
life  (Gen.  492-  Ex.  15^  Jos.  22^  Ju.  ^^  i  Sam.  ao"---*  Isa.  53^^ 
^  ggi2(i3)^^  Qj.  fj-om  the  judicial  and  other  civil  injustices  of  the 
rich  ;  cf.  i^''  31". 

20-25.  Wisdom  and  graciousness. 

20.  He  who  gives  heed  to  the  word  will  prosper. 
And  the  man  that  trusts  in  Yahweh,  happy  is  he ! 

21.  The  wise  man  is  called  a  man  of  discernment : 
Sweetness  of  speech  increases  power  of  persuasion. 

22.  Wisdom  is  a  wellspring  of  life  to  its  possessor, 
And  folly  is  the  chastisement  of  fools. 

23.  The  wise  man's  mind  makes  his  speech  judicious, 
And  gives  persuasiveness  to  his  discourse. 

24.  Pleasant  words  are  a  honeycomb, 

Sweet  to  the  soul  and  healing  to  the  body. 

25.  There  is  a  way  that  seems  right  to  a  man, 

But  the  end  of  it  is  the  way  to  death.  * 


XVI.  17-22  329 

20.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Gives  heed  is  acfs  wisely  (in  ref- 
erence to)  ;  cf.  21'^.  The  word  is  the  law  of  right  as  given  by 
the  sages  and  by  God,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  of  Yahweh 
(Gratz)  ;  see  note  on  13^'^ ;  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  reference 
is  in  part  to  (postexilian)  legal  and  prophetical  documents.  Pros- 
per is  \\\..find  good.  —  Trust  substantially  =  gives  heed,  since  trust 
and  obedience  involve  each  the  other.  The  good  and  happiness 
include  all  desirable  things  of  this  life.  The  proverb  gives  the 
purely  religious  point  of  view  :  God  blesses  those  who  obey  and 
trust  him,  and  they  need  no  otlier  protection;  see  v.'' 3''' ".  The 
expression  happy  is  he  occurs  in  i4''^  29'*. — 21.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. The  power  of  discreet  gentleness  of  speech.  Lit.,  in  first 
line  :  the  wise  of  mind  [lit.  heart\  is  called  discerning.  The  dis- 
cernment, as  may  be  inferred  from  second  line,  shows  itself  in 
selecting  proper  language  by  which  to  influence  men.  Is  called  = 
"is  recognized  as,  given  credit  for  being."  The  last  expression  of 
second  line  (RV.  learning,  as  in  i^)  is  to  be  rendered  persuasive- 
ness, as  in  7^',  on  which  see  note ;  such  is  the  effect  of  sweetness 
of  speech  (lit.  of  lips).  A  man  of  true  wisdom  of  thought  shows 
himself  intelligent,  judicious,  discerning  (RV.  prudent)  by  his 
attractive  words,  whereby  he  brings  men  to  his  way  of  thinking,  or 
to  a  recognition  of  duty.  The  rendering  increases  learning  does 
not  convey  a  distinct  sense ;  in  i^  the  sage  adds,  by  study,  to  his 
own  learning ;  sweetness  of  discourse  could  increase  the  learning 
of  others  only,  but  the  Heb.  expression  does  not  naturally  convey 
that  idea.  —  Instead  oi  discerning  {or,  intelligent)  Gratz,  by  change 
of  text,  would  read  agreeable,  and  Bickell  harp  (that  is,  as  melo- 
dious as  a  harp)  ;  the  latter  reading  is  unnatural,  the  former 
furnishes  a  good  antithesis,  but  the  Heb.  text  is  favored  by  v.*. 
—  Sweetness  =  graciousness,  friendliness  ;  on  discerning  see  note 
on  1^ — 22.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Ox\  wcllspring  {ox,  fountain)  of 
life  see  10"  13'*  14"'^  18*;  on  chastisement  (the  word  is  also  ren- 
dered instruction  and  correction)  see  i^  3"  7^-  13"'*  22'^.  As  tvis- 
dom  secures  for  its  possessor  (by  natural  and  divine  law)  all  the 
blessings  of  life,  so  folly  brings  on  its  possessor  loss  of  blessing, 
and  positively  punishment.  The  chastisement  is  not  here  a  means 
of  reformation,  but  merely  a  requital  of  wrongdoing ;  the  fool  is 
once  for  all  ignorant,  inapprehensive,  disobedient  to  human  and 


330  PROVERBS 

divine  law.  —  23.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Identical  in  thought 
with  V.''.  On  makes  judicious  (a  different  term  from  the  discern- 
ing of  v.-^)  see  notes  on  i^  lo^'^^  14^  15-^.  Here  it  is  the  wise 
man's  mind  (=good  sense  or  sagacity)  that  makes  his  speech 
persuasive ;  in  v.-^  the  agent  is  sweetness  of  expression ;  but  the 
epithet  judicious  or  sagacious  favors  the  reading  discerning  (in- 
stead of  agreeable')  in  v.^^.  The  two  couplets  are  variations  of  one 
theme.  Speech  and  discourse  are  lit.  mouth  and  lips.  —  24.  Single 
sentence  (second  cl.  interpreting  first  cL),  binary  (or,  binary- 
quaternary).  Honeycomb,  of.  \\i  19^°'^^^  i  Sam.  14^^  Cant.  5^; 
pleasant  —  graceful,  gracious,  friendly  ;  body  is  lit.  bone.  Gratz 
finds  in  this  couplet  a  suggestion  for  his  emendation  in  v.^^ ;  it 
does  give  some  support  to  his  reading,  yet  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  the  reference  here  is  simply  to  charm  of  expression  and  man- 
ner, while  there  the  connection  between  wisdom  and  speech  is 
considered. — 25.  Identical  with  14^-. 

16.  On  njp  cf.  01s.  §  173^,  Ges.^s  §  75  n;  it  seems  probable  that  the  form 
is  here,  as  01s.  suggests,  scribal  error  for  njp,  since  the  latter  occurs  in  ^; 
IL  Inipv.  in  both  clauses,  inserting  quia;  Stade  takes  it  as  Inf.  abs.,  Bi.  as 
Impv.,  but  the  |^  Infin.  is  more  satisfactory.  (5  voaatal,  =  mp  or  \:|"i.  —  Omit 
HG  (probably  repetition  of  preceding  nr.),  which  is  syntactically  difficult,  if  not 
impossible.  — 17.  In  •*  a  reviser  has  brought  the  text  of  (@  into  accord  with  |^, 
which  latter  is  obviously  correct.  Bi.  makes  two  couplets,  adopting  the  ''  and 
the  •=  of  @;  but  no  great  advantage  is  thereby  gained,  and  the  preference 
should  probably  be  given  to  |^  as  the  shorter.  — 18.  On  the  dira^  Xey.  piyp 
cf.  Barth,  Nominalbild.  §  196  b.  — 19.  '?3U',  Intin.,  taken  as  adj.  by  %,  which 
inserts  it  also  before  '>',  pointed  D\rv.  —  On  the  relation  between  Du;  (here 
Qeri)  and  n^j;  (here  Kethib)  see  critical  note  on  1421.  —  20.  |§  nji  "^'i,  where 
"?;  =  according  to,  in  respect  to  (cf.  ^  \i(f  T(213  let;''?) ;   Bi.  -1312,  after  @  iv. 

—  Gr.  mni  i3i.  In  ^  the  Grk.  Codd.  vary  between  ^eijJ  and  Kvpl({>,  a  varia- 
tion that  appears  throughout  OT.,  and  is  adduced  by  Klost.  as  proof  that 
difference  of  divine  names  in  the  Heb.  text  is  not  a  sign  of  difference  of 
authorship  (for  a  criticism  of  Klost.  see  E.  Konig,  Theol.  Stud.  u.  Krit.,  1893). 

—  21.  (5  expands  |^  a*?  DDH  into  <ro0oi>s  koX  (tvp€toilis.- — |^  j'zy,  (3  (pavXovs,  = 
^5:  (Jag.),  whence  Bi.  Sai  harp ;  Gr.  suggests  nvj.  S"  gives  |^  freely.  See 
note  on  this  v.  above.  —  22.  Before  pj  r'^;3  insert  ^,  with  (5;  it  fell  out  by 
reason  of  the    S  of  preceding   '-^yv.  —  23.    <5S   vary  from,  but   support,  |^. 

—  24.  (S  in  ^,  less  well,  •^yiiKo.dixa.  8i  avrov  i'ao-is  ^J/vxv'St  =  NOID  B'dj'?  ipnpi.  — 
25.    (SS2C1L  here  vary  slightly  from  their  renderings  of  14^2. 


XVI.  23-28  331 

26.  Hunger  makes  a  man  industrious. 

The  laborer's  appetite  labors  for  him, 
For  his  mouth  impels  him  to  work. 

Single  sentence  (second  cl.  explaining  first  cl.),  ternary.  Cf. 
Eccl.  6^  Appetite  is  Heb.  nefesh  (  =  soul^ ,  that  part  of  the  nature 
which  desires  or  craves  food  ;  so  6'*  23^  2f  Dt.  14-"  23^^'^^^  Job  33^. 
The  second  cl.  is  lit.  for  his  ?nouth  presses  on  him.  The  parono- 
masia in  first  cl.  is  effective  :  man  works,  and  his  appetite  works 
for  him.  Hunger,  says  the  proverb,  is  a  useful  thing,  since  it 
drives  a  man  on  to  work ;  or,  a  man  will  work,  whether  he  likes  it 
or  not,  for  hunger  forces  him  to  gain  food.  Industry,  from  this 
point  of  view,  is  not  a  virtue  of  high  rank.  Grk. :  A  man  who 
labors  labors  for  himself,  and  drives  away  ruiti ;  but  the  perverse 
brings  ruin  on  his  own  mouth  ;  ruin  is  misreading  of  the  Heb. 
word  for  mouth,  and  the  last  clause  is  the  comment  of  a  scribe. 
Syr.  :  the  soul  that  inflicts  suffering  suffers,  a7id  frotn  its  mouth 
comes  ruin,  which  in  part  follows  the  Greek. 

27,  30.  Mischief -making.  Ternary.  Cf.  6'-"'^  a  paragraph 
which  is  out  of  place  in  chs.  1-9. 

27.  A  wicked  man  digs  (a  pit  of)  mischief, 

And  on  his  lips  there  is  as  it  were  a  scorching  fire. 

28.  A  false  man  scatters  discord  abroad, 
And  a  backbiter  separates  friends. 

29.  A  villain  entices  his  neighbor. 
And  leads  him  in  a  way  not  good. 

30.  A  slanderer  devises  falsehoods, 

A  backbiter  consummates  mischief. 

27.  A  metaphor  and  a  simile.  Wicked  tnan,  lit.  man  of  belial ; 
see  note  on  6^".  Mischief  (or,  misfortune^  is  lit.  evil.  The  second 
cl.  indicates  that  the  reference  of  the  couplet  is  to  slanderous  talk  : 
the  man's  lips  scorch,  burn  those  of  whom  he  talks  —  he  digs  a 
pit  mto  which  they  fall.  — 28.  Synonymous.  Cf.  17^  Lit.  a  man 
of  falsehoods,  a  liar;  on  this  term  see  note  on  2^";  backbiter  is 
lit.  murmurer,  whisperer;  in  the  second  line,  lit.  :  separates  a 
friend,  probably  =  not  alienates  his  friend,  but,  as  the  parallelism 
{discord)  and  18^*  suggest,  separates  (=  alienates)  one  friend  from 
another;    on  friend  see  2^'  (the  RV.  rendering,  chief  friends,  = 


332  PROVERBS 

intimate  friends,  is  possible  but  unnecessary) ;  Rashi :  alienates  the 
prince  (such  is  the  meaning  of  the  Heb.  word  in  Gen.  36^^  Zech.  9"), 
that  is,  God  ;  Luther  :  makes  princes  disagree.  —  29.  Extensive. 
ViHaiji  is  ht.  man  of  violence,  here  in  general  a  man  of  immoral 
or  criminal  methods  of  procedure ;  he  entices  his  neighbor  or 
comrade  (as  in  i^^-^^)  into  habits  of  vice  and  crime,  not  to  some 
secret  place  where  he  may  rob  or  murder  him  —  this  last  does  not 
suit  the  expression  in  a  way  not  good.  Neighbor  =  any  associate 
or  acquaintance,  and,  in  general,  any  man.  —  30.  Parallelism  of 
expressions.  The  couplet  is  almost  identical  with  6^^' ".  Lit.  :  he 
7vho  shuts  (or,  7vinks)  his  eyes  to  devise,  etc.,  he  who  shuts  (or, 
bites)  his  lips  consummates,  etc. ;  in  first  cl.  the  Infinitive  expresses 
purpose,  and  the  sentence  is  incomplete,  or  the  meaning  may  be  : 
he  who  shuts,  etc.  {does  it)  to  devise,  etc.  (RV.)  ;  in  second  cl.  the 
verb  expresses  the  completed  act.  We  may  gain  symmetry  and 
completeness  by  changing  the  Infinitive  into  a  finite  verb,  and 
reading :  he  7vho  shuts  .  .  .  devises,  etc.,  and  he  who  closes  .  .  .  con- 
summates, etc. ;  this  reading  supposes  that  the  acts  of  shutting  or 
winking  eyes  and  closing  or  gnawing  lips  are  regarded  as  signs  of 
evil  purpose,  which,  from  6^^- ",  appears  to  be  the  case.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  we  change  the  finite  verb  of  second  cl.  into  an 
Infinitive,  we  have  a  natural  expression,  but,  at  the  same  time,  two 
incomplete  sentences,  and  it  must  be  supposed  that  a  final  clause 
has  been  lost,  the  complete  proverb  reading :  "  he  who  closes  (or, 
winks)  his  eyes  in  order  to  concoct  mischief,  and  he  who  shuts 
(or,  snaps)  his  lips  in  order  to  perfect  (or,  as  a  sign  that  he  has 
perfected)  mischief,  let  him  be  avoided  (or,  he  will  surely  come  to 
grief)."  Such  a  couplet,  however,  would  be  contrary  to  the  norm 
of  this  Division,  in  which  every  couplet  is  complete  in  itself.  The 
construction  with  two  finite  verbs  is  the  simpler  and  the  more 
natural.  The  expressions  he  who  winks  the  eyes  and  he  who  closes 
(or,  gnaws)  the  lips  are  equivalent  to  slanderer  and  backbiter. 
The  progression  of  thought,  devises  .  .  .  consummates,  is  rhetorical 
—  each  of  these  classes  of  persons  does  both  of  these  acts.  —  The 
Grk.  reads  : 

He  who  fixes  his  eyes  devises  falsities 
And  marks  out  all  evils  with  his  lips; 
He  is  a  furnace  of  wickedness. 


XVI.  28-33  333 

Whence  Bickell :  he  who  shuts  his  eyes  is  false,  he  who  closes  his 
ears  is  a  fia-nace  of  wickedness.  —  Lit.  :  he  who  with  astonished 
eyes  meditates  wickedness  biting  his  lips  perfects  evil.  —  The  general 
sense  of  the  couplet  is  plain,  but  form  and  translation  are  uncertain. 
Cf.  BS.  5". 

31.  Righteousness  gives  long  life. 

A  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory 
Which  is  gained  by  a  righteous  life. 

Continuous,  ternary.  The  second  cl.  is  lit.  ///  the  way  ( =  life') 
of  righteousness  it  is  found  (=  come  upon,  acquired).  The  Heb. 
hardly  allows  the  rendering  if  it  be  found  in,  etc.  (this  idea  is 
expressed  eloquently  in  BS.  25'*^).  The  assertion  is  that  old  age 
is  the  reward  of  rightdoing:  righteousness,  =  wisdom,  bestows  long 
life  (s''^"  al.).  The  possibility  that  a  bad  man  may  live  to  be  old 
is  not  here  considered  ;  it  is  assumed  that  the  wicked  perish  early 
(2--  12'  24^"  29^  \\j  (f'^'^^^  55"^'^'") •  This  conception,  which  is  the 
prevailing  one  in  OT.  (it  is  opposed  by  Job)  and  in  BS.  (i^^  16^), 
was  modified  by  the  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  happy  immor- 
tality (VVS.  4'^'''  "honorable  age  is  not  .  .  .  measured  by  number 
of  years  "),  and  is  not  found  in  NT. 

32.  Excellence  of  self-control. 

He  who  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than  a  warrior, 
And  he  who  rules  himself  than  he  who  takes  a  city. 

Synonymous,  ternary-quaternary  (or,  ternary-binary).  Hijnself 
is  lit.  his  spirit  (=  his  inner  nature,  soul).  The  sage  extols  the 
virtue  of  moderation,  self-control,  a  familiar  one  to  Greek  thought 
{(jhi(^fio<jvvy]) ;  in  or.  it  is  referred  to  only  in  the  Wisdom  books. 
Numerous  parallel  sayings  (Chinese,  Hindu,  Greek,  etc.)  are  cited 
by  Malan;  see  Hor.,  01.  2,  2.  Delitzsch  refers  to  Pirke  Aboth, 
4,  I,  Par.  Regained,  2,  466  ff.  —  The  Grk.  adds,  after  first  cl.,  its 
rendering  of  second  cl.  of  24^:  and  a  ?nan  of  prudence  than  a 
great  estate. 

33.  God  controls  men's  decisions. 

The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap, 

But  the  whole  decision  of  it  is  from  Yahweh. 


334  PROVERBS 

Implied  antithesis,  ternary-binary.  The  thought  is  substantially 
that  of  v.^-  ^ :  all  human  affairs  are  controlled  by  God  —  only,  in 
this  case,  the  arbitrament  is  consciously  referred  to  him.  The  de- 
termination of  the  divine  will  by  casting  lots  was  probably  universal 
in  the  ancient  world  ;  the  deity  was  supposed  to  direct  the  throw  ; 
see  Iliad,  3,  316  ff.,  Cic,  De  Divin.,  2,  41  (Cicero  says  that  edu- 
cated people  of  his  time  regarded  the  custom- as  a  superstition). 
n  OT.  important  public  and  private  affairs  are  so  determined 
(Ju.  i^  Isa.  34^''  Lev.  16'*'*'  Jon.  i^  al.,  cf.  Acts  i^*')  ;  the  priestly 
decision  by  Urim  and  Thummin  was  probably  by  lot  (i  Sam.  i4''^*^- 
28°  Nu.  27^^  al.).  The  term  lol  was  used  also  as  =  one's  part  or 
portion  (Ju.  i''  ij/  16').  On  laj>  see  notes  on  5^  6-';  the  reference 
here  is  to  the  garment. 

26.  1^  Spy  tS'OJ;  (5  dvrjp  iv  ttSuols;  but  'j  is  better  understood  as  =  appetite. 
—  3^in'3;  (5  dTTtiXetai',  = -113  (Hitz.) ;  in  (§  the  line  <=  is  gloss  on  b.  —  The  stem 
r|3N  appears  to  signify  lay  on  (so  in  Arab.),/r«5,  urge,  impel ;  in  Syr.  to  be 
solicitous ;  for  the  Assyr.  see  De.  Assyr.  Hdivbuch. ;  in  |^  Job  33'^  the  noun 
r|DN  is  probably  to  be  emended,  after  (5,  to  t^D  (01s.  Siegf.  Budde,  a/.).  S;?  ^Ds' 
is  regarded  by  Wild,  as  Araniaism.  Cf.  BDB.  —  27.  On  SySa  see  critical  note 
on  612.  1^  ;-,-,-,.  Qr.  suggests  (but  unnecessarily)  ann.  —  Between  Kethib 
VDDtt'  and  Qeri  insa'  there  is  little  choice.  —  28.  ]nj  was  not  understood  by 
the  Vrss. :  (5  'Kafj.TTTTjpa  ddXov  -wvpa-eiffei  KaKoh,  in  which  X.  suggests  "(j  (Lag.), 
and  K.  is  interpretation;  ^  quarreller,  ox  fieiy,  irascible;  S  empty,  inane; 
it  verbose;  cf.  Lag.  Baum.  —  The  small  final  Nun  is  doubtless  due  to  some 
scribal  accident  in  the  archetypal  MS.  (cf.  Lag.).  —  30.  The  stem  nsj;  =  com- 
press (so  Syr.)  or  strike  (so  Arab.) ;  see  note  above  on  this  verse.  Stade  com- 
pares ax;',  which  stem,  in  its  late-Heb.  and  Aram,  sense,  shitt,  should  perhaps 
be  read  here  (so  Gratz,  Frank.).  In  any  case  the  sliut  may  suggest  wink. 
On  yip  see  notes  on  61^  iqIO,  and  cf.  1/'  351^.  The  sense  gnaiv,  bite,  found  in 
Ass.  (De.  Wbch.')  suits  the  connection  {lips) ;  cf.  i-rriSaKvuv  below,  and  the 
connection  of  inp  in  Arab.  Aram,  with  slander. — In  (@  irdvTa  rd  KaKd  is 
doublet  of  ovTos  Kdixivb%  eariv  Kanias,  but  which  is  the  earlier  is  uncertain; 
Bi.  adopts  Kdfiivos  /ca/c/as,  =  n;n  Tp.  Instead  of  the  opt'fet  of  (5^,  =  n-i^ 
((3^  opyi^ei.,  perh.  scribal  error,  perh.  =  fisp),  a  number  of  Codd.  (23.  106. 
109.  147.  149.  157.  252.  260.  295.297)  have  iiribdKvwv  gnawing,  adding,  how- 
ever, bpi^ei  before  irdvTa,  and  e.  is  probably  the  original  (5  reading  (Lag.). — 
On  S  see  Pink.  —  For  yip  Gr.  reads  rop,  a  possible  but  unnecessary  emenda- 
tion.—  33.  Sn':in  pn  after  passive  verb  (so  Gen.  4I8  al.);  what  is  commonly 
grammatical  subject  is  here  presented  as  the  object  of  the  action,  or  rather,  as 
the  object  of  contemplation,  as  in  Arab,  after  Hnna,  'atina  ;  it  is  an  attempt, 
on  the  part  of  the  language,  to  give  prominence  and  emphasis  to  the  thing 
by  holding  it  up  as  object  of  thought;    see  Ew.  §  295  b,  Ges.  ^o  §  121  b. — 


XVI.  33-xvii.  2  335 

(3,  having  rendered  it3D-'0  '^3  by  Travra  to.  dlKata,  assimilates  "  to  f'  by  writing 
■rrdvTa  rots  adlKois,  h-\>  being  left  untranslated. 

•    XVII.  1.   Desirableness  of   a  quiet  life. 

Better  a  dry  morsel  and  quietness  therewith 
Than  a  house  full  of  feasting  and  strife. 

Antithetic  comparison,  ternary  —  the  value  of  a  quiet  Hfe.  Cf. 
j^i6. 17  2^24^  ^i^g  word  here  rendered  feasting  is  ht.  sacrifices ;  in 
ancient  Israel  all  eating  of  flesh  was  a  religious  act  —  the  animal 
was  first  presented  to  the  deity  by  the  priest,  and  then  eaten  by 
the  worshippers  with  the  accompaniments  of  a  feast ;  see  i  Sam. 
^12.13  2o^' -^  The  ordinary  term  for  this  animal  sacrifice  is  the 
one  employed  in  our  verse.  Such  sacrifice  was  offered  at  a 
shrine  ;  but  the  Deuteronomic  code,  which  abolished  all  shrines 
but  the  Jerusalem  temple,  expressly  authorizes  the  killing  and 
eating  of  animals  at  home  (Dt.  \2^^-^^).  The  old  term  for  the 
ritual  slaying  of  beasts  is,  however,  sometimes  used  to  express 
private  slaying  (Dt.  \2^  Ez.  39^^  Isa,  34*=),  and  thus  comes  to 
denote  feasting  (so  RV. ;  AV.  marg.  good  cheer)  ;  this  word  suffi- 
ciently expresses  the  contrast  of  the  meagre  dry  morse/,  bread 
without  savory  accompaniments,  and  the  richness  of  a  meal  in 
which  meat  is  the  principal  feature.  It  is  uncertain  whether  the 
proverb  contemplates  a  sacrifice  proper,  or  a  private  preparation 
of  animal  food,  but  the  general  sense  is  the  same  in  the  two  cases. 
Cf.  note  on  7". 

2.  Cleverness  succeeds. 

A  wise  slave  will  rule  over  a  profligate  son, 
And  will  share  the  inheritance  among  brethren. 

Continuous  sentence,  quaternary  (or,  ternary).  IVise  =  one  who 
acts  with  sagacity,  a  clever,  capable  person  ;  moral  excellence  is 
not  expressed,  but  is  possibly  to' be  understood.  Frofiigate  =  one 
who  acts  shamefully,  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  disgrace  on  himself 
and  his  family  (see  10^  12*  h'"^).  Share  is  lit.  divide.  The  slave, 
in  the  case  here  supposed,  is  said,  not  to  act,  after  the  father's 
death,  as  executor  of  the  estate,  distributer  of  the  property  among 
the  heirs  (De.),  but  himself  to  be  one  of  the  heirs,  promoted 
above  the  unworthy  son  ;    for  this  sense  of  the  verb  see  29-'  (RV. 


7^T^6  PROVERBS 

is  partne?-^;  share  the  inheritance  need  mean  no  more  than  come 
into  possession  of  part  of  the  property.  Slaves  in  Israel,  even 
when  non-Israelite  of  origin,  were  considered  as  members  of  the 
family,  adopted  the  religion  of  the  master,  and  took  part  in  the 
national  festivals  (Gen.  24'^  pt.  5"  12^2-18  ^(^u-u^^  .  ^^.^  ^^^  |^^gj.  j^^ 

(Gen.  17^-)  the  slave  is  required  to  be  circumcised,  though  this 
rule  is  relaxed  in  the  Talmud  i^Yebam.  48  b).  Abraham  (Gen. 
i5'^)  speaks  of  his  homeborn  slave  Eliezer  as  his  heir;  a  man 
sometimes  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  his  slave  (i  Chr.  2^), 
who  thus  came  to  be  head  of  the  household.  So  an  unworthy 
son,  it  is  here  said,  might  be  partly  or  wholly  set  aside  in  favor  of 
a  capable  slave.  Such  a  case  was,  no  doubt,  exceptional  —  the 
Old  Testament  law  regards  sons  as  the  heirs,  but  it  appears  that, 
in  later  times,  the  father  had  considerable  liberty  in  disposing  of 
his  property  (see  30-^).*  In  regard  to  the  value  set  on  sons  com- 
pare what  is  said  in  Ben-Sira  (16''')  and  Wisdom  (4')  of  the  unde- 
sirableness  of  bad  children.  —  For  the  idea  cf.  BS.  10^. 

3.  God  the  judge  of  character. 

The  fining-pot  is  for  silver,  and  the  furnace  for  gold, 
And  Yahweh  is  the  trier  of  hearts. 

The  couplet  may  be  regarded  (as  in  RV.)  as  expressing  a  con- 
trast between  material  and  spiritual  testing,  but  is  better  under- 
stood as  an  implied  comparison:  as  ...  so ;  quaternary-  (or, 
binary-)  ternary.  Other  references  to  the  process  of  testing  and 
refining  metals  are  Isa.  i-'  Jer.  6^^  Ez.  22'''"-2  Mai.  ■^ ;  the  figura- 
tive use  is  found  in  Isa.  48^°  </'  17^  66^°  Dan.  12^"  al.  The  charac- 
ter of  metals,  says  the  proverb,  is  disclosed  by  the  human  process 
of  refining,  and  the  true  nature  of  the  human  soul  by  God  —  it  is 
involved,  of  course,  that  he  alone  can  fully  estimate  the  soul  — 
man  may  know  something  of  it,  but  not  all.  The  first  cl.  of  this 
verse  occurs  in  27^^! 

4.  Moral  badness  of  listening  to  evil  talk. 

A  bad  man  gives  heed  to  wicked  words, 
A  I  false  '  man  listens  to  mischievous  talk. 

*  Cf.  Ewald,  Alterthilmer,  p.  240;    Nowack,  Arch.,  \  29. 

t  See  art.  Refining  in  Smith,  Z'/tT'.  of  Bib.;  Hovi,,  Arch.,  §43.  4;    Rawlinson, 
Phoenicia,  p.  317. 


XVII.  2-6 


337 


Identical  thought  with  variation  of  terms,  ternary.  IVords  and 
talk  are  ht.  lip  and  tongue ;  wicked  words  is  Ut.  ///  of  wickedness 
(Heb.  ^7^:/^'//) — the  defining  noun  is  employed  in  6^--'^  lo'-''  ii^ 
12-^  al,  and  in  OT.  the  majority  of  its  occurrences  are  in  Job,  Ps. 
Prov. ;  mischievous  talk  is  lit.  tongue  of  injuiy  (or,  destruction)  ; 
for  a  false  man  the  Heb.  text  has  falsity,  hardly  abstract  for  con- 
crete, rather  the  text  must  be  corrected;  false  is  to  be  taken  in 
the  sense  ol  false  {or,  faithless)  to  friends  and  companions  (=  un- 
mindful of  what  is  due  to  men),  substantially  equivalent  to  l^ad. 
The  purpose  of  the  proverb  seems  to  be  not  to  define  bad  and 
false  as  those  who  give  heed,  etc.,  but  to  assert  that  those  who  so 
give  heed  are  bad  and  false.  Another  rendering  of  the  couplet 
(Frank.)  is  :  deceit  (?)  results  luhen  one  gives  heed,  tic,  falsehood 
results  when  one  listens,  etc.,  but  this  is  scarcely  natural.  —  Many 
MSS.  of  Grk.  here  add  a  couplet  which  in  the  Vatican  MS.  occurs 
after  v.^ 

5.  To  laugh  at  misfortune  is  impious  and  dangerous. 

He  who  mocks  the  poor  reproaches  his  Maker, 
He  who  is  glad  at  calamity  will  not  go  unpunished. 

The  rhythmical  form  is  that  of  v.*.  The  first  cl.  is  a  variation  of 
14^^%  on  which  verse  see  note.  The  calamity  is  apparently,  from 
the  parallehsm,  that  which  befalls  the  poor,  and  he  who  is  glad  at 
misfortune  thus  mocks  the  unfortunate  ;  such  an  one,  inasmuch  as 
he  reproaches  (contemptuously  criticises)  his  divine  Maker  (by 
mistaking  and  blaming  his  providential  control  of  the  world),  will 
incur  punishment  from  God.  The  second  cl.,  taken  by  itself, 
might  refer  to  the  punishment  of  heartlessness  through  the  opera- 
tion of  natural  laws.  The  sympathy  with  the  poor  here  expressel 
is  found  throughout  the  Old  Testament.  The  mocking  is  perhaps 
simply  or  mainly  the  failure  to  give  sympathy  and  aid  ;  cf.  RS.  4". 
—  Grk.  adds  :  and  he  who  is  compassionate  luill  find  mercy,  a  nat- 
ural contrast,  probably  a  gloss. 

6.  Parent  and  child  —  each  the  ornament  of  the  other. 

Children's  children  are  the  crown  of  old  men, 
And  the  adornment  of  children  is  their  fathers. 
z 


338  PROVERBS 

Parallelism  of  form,  two  similar  or  complementary  thoughts,  ter- 
nary. Cf.  i{/  12  f-^  BS.  3"  25''.  The  intimate  relation  between 
parent  and  child,  in  general  the  value  of  the  family,  is  expressed 
by  the  statement  that  each  member  is  the  crown  or  adornment  of 
the  others ;  mother  and  daughter  are  to  be  included.  Parent 
and  child  form  a  social  unit  —  each  gives  support,  dignity,  and 
happiness  to  the  other. — The  RV.  rendering  in  second  c[.,g/ory, 
is  possible,  if  the  term  be  taken  as  meaning  "  honor  received," 
but  the  parallelism  shows  that  it  is  here  equivalent  to  the  crown 
of  the  first  clause.  —  The  value  placed  on  children  as  procuring 
respect  for  parents  is  apparent  throughout  OT.;  a  sort  of  protest 
against  this  feeling  occurs  in  Wisd.  Sol.  3^^"4\  Originally  this 
desire  for  children  was  connected  with  the  belief  that  the  child- 
less man,  having  no  one,  after  his  death,  to  provide  food  for  his 
Shade,  would  fare  ill  in  the  Otherworld.  Of  this  primitive  belief 
(and  of  the  related  cult  of  ancestors)  there  are  no  definite  traces 
in  OT.  — The  Grk.  (Vat.  MS.)  adds: 

To  the  faithful  belongs  the  whole  world  of  wealth, 
But  to  the  faithless  not  an  obolus. 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  this  couplet  as  a  corruption  of  any  He- 
brew proverb,  or  to  attach  it  to  any  distich  in  the  context.  The 
sentiment  resembles  that  of  3'^,  but  the  form  is  Greek,  and  we 
must  suppose  that  a  Greek-speaking  scribe  has  inserted  the  lines 
in  this  place  (or  after  v.^)  as  a  familiar  saying,  or  from  a  current 
written  collection  of  aphorisms. 

7.  Let  fools  be  false,  and  good  men  true. 

Honest  words  do  not  become  a  fool, 
Much  less  do  lies  a  man  of  rectitude. 

Parallel  between  a  less  and  a  greater,  ternary  (or,  ternary-binary) . 
Lit.  Up  of  excellence  and  lip  of  falsehood.  The  first  cl.  appears  to 
be  sarcastic  and  sardonic,  =  "a  fool  has  no  business  to  talk  truth," 
or  "  true  talk  does  not  comport  with  a  fool's  character."  Fool 
(Heb.  nabal,  in  Pr.  only  here  and  17-^  30")  is  a  contemptuous 
and  opprobrious  term  involving  lack  of  intellectual  and  moral  in- 
sight and  weight  (i  Sam.  25-^  2  Sam.  3^^^  Job  2"  \\/  14^)  ;  the  con- 
trasted word  in  second  cl.  {iiadib)  elsewhere  in  Pr.,  except  17-", 


XVTI.  6-7  339 

means  nol'kma/i  ox  prince  (S"'  25"),  but  here,  from  the  parallel- 
ism, better  iiiaii  of  noble  character,  of  rectitude  (cf.  Isa.  32"', 
where  it  is  contrasted,  as  here,  \\\\\\  fool).  The  general  sense  of 
the  aphorism  is  apparent  from  the  similar  sayings  in  19^°  26';  in 
both  of  these  something  is  mentioned  which  is  obviously  out  of 
keeping  with  the  status  of  the  fool,  and  in  19"'  an  advance  is 
made  to  something  which  is  regarded  as  still  less  appropriate  in 
some  other  person.  The  precise  sense  of  first  cl.  turns  on  the 
meaning  of  the  subject  of  the  sentence.  The  term  which  there 
in  the  Heb.  defines  speech  signifies  remainder  or  (in  adverbial  use) 
exceedingly  throughout  OT.  except  in  our  verse  and  Gen.  49^  (in 
Job  4-'  the  form  is  probably  corrupt),  but  neither  of  these  senses 
(^abundance,  diffuseness)  is  here  appropriate ;  in  Gen.  49^  the 
meaning  suggested  by  the  connection  is  excellency  or  (as  Dillmann 
explains  it)  superiority,  preeminence,  and  the  same  sense  is  found 
in  Syriac  and  in  a  related  Heb.  word  which  occurs  a  number  of 
times  in  Eccl.  (2'^  7^-  al.').  There  appears  to  be  no  authority  for 
the  meanings  elevated,  noble  (Ew.)  and  pretentious,  arrogant  (De. 
Reuss,  RV.  marg.).  The  proverb  seems  to  offer  a  sharp  and  sar- 
castic antithesis  —  the  sage  would  say:  "let  every  man  act  in 
character  —  excellent  (here  =  honest,  true)  words  do  not  become 
a  fool,  nor  lies  a  man  of  rectitude."  According  to  De.  the  mean- 
ing is  :  "  it  is  repulsive  to  us  when  an  ignorant,  vulgar  man  puts 
himself  impudently  forward,  and  much  more  repulsive,"  etc. ;  but 
this  meaning  (if  it  could  be  got  from  the  Heb.)  is  not  appropri- 
ate, since,  from  the  tone  of  the  second  cl.,  we  expect  in  first  cl. 
the  mention  of  something  which  is  alien  to  the  fool.  Nor,  accord- 
ing to  OT.  usage,  can  the  contrast  between  the  characters  be  a 
social  one  :  churl .  .  .  nobleman.  Grk.  :  faithful  (or,  true)  words 
do  not  become  a  fool,  in  which  the  adjective  may  be  chosen  as 
offering  a  distinct  contrast  to  false,  but  the  sense  is  appropriate, 
and  may  rest  on  a  Heb.  term  ;  Lat.  :  verba  composita  (feigned, 
false  words,  which  are  in  excess  of  the  truth) .  —  If  the  meaning 
honest,  true  be  regarded  as  foreign  to  the  word  of  the  Heb.,  it 
may  be  got  by  a  slight  change  of  text. 

XVII.  1.  As  n3f  is  rarely  used  of  private  slaughter  of  animals,  Dys.,  not 
without  probability,  proposes  to  read  >n3  j  here,  as  in  9^;  the  Vrss.  had  the 
word  of  ?^.  —  (g^  Me^'  T)hovr^%  probably  =  r\-yr:  (see  |§  20")  for  ?§  na^n  (Jag.), 


340  PROVERBS 

but  may  be  interpretation  of  |^;  in  i'  instead  of  the  iroWQv  of  B  we  should  per- 
haps read  7rXi}pr?s  with  nAC,  and  dyadiijv  kolI  adlKcov  are  expansion,  dd.  being 
possibly  scribal  variation  of /xera /idxT/s.  —  2.  ^  c'ao  p;  (5  dea-iroruv  d(j)p6- 
vuv,  apparently  =  'D  Sy3;  Bi.,  comparing  BS.  lo^s  (eXei/^epot),  reads  anna,  but 
this  is  hardly  probable.  —  In  ^  (g  has  free  rendering  of  ||^;  m^  for  pa  stands 
eKkeKTaL  (n*  iKXi-yerai),  from  nna.     Instead  of  /ci;p^(fj  (S'^  has  Gu)  (Gey). — 

4.  1^  yiD  is  Hif.  Partcp.  of  yyn;  we  therefore  expect  a  corresponding  con- 
crete form  in  ^,  and  may,  with  Gr.,  read  -ipi:'D  (cf.  i  S.  15^^)  instead  of  ips:'; 
jrc  is  for  fTNC;  both  this  verb  and  arpp  are  commonly  and  properly  followed 
by  Sn,  and  so  we  should  probably  here  read  instead  of  Sy.  —  For  an  extraordi- 
nary translation  of  this  couplet  see  Schultens.  —  (gN'ABo«.  SiKaios  Si  ov  wpoa- 
^X".  probably  scribal  alteration  to  gain  an  antithesis;  ^  is  followed  in 
(g68. 161.  248.  Compi._  —  On  a  couplet  here  added  in  ©^  "'•  see  note  on  v.^.  — 

5.  1^  TN;  @  dwoWvfiivcp,  perh.  =  nas  (Lag.).  —  After  misfortune  STIL  add, 
as  interpretation,  of  another.  —  6.  On  the  couplet  added  in  (5  see  note  on  this 
proverb  above,  and  cf.  notes  of  Lag.  and  Baumgartner.  —  7.  In  "  (§  ttio-tci 
may  be  free  rendering  of  |^  ini  to  gain  a  contrast  with  the  \l/fvd7j  of  ^-j  but 
it  is  possibly  error  of  Grk.  scribe  for  Trepicrad  (Grabe,  Lag.);  in  •>  dcKalip 
(representing  ||^  3"ij)  may  be  miswriting  of  diKa.(TT^  or  dwdarrj  (Jag.),  or,  the 
Heb.  may  have  been  read  piv,  but  (5  may  be  free  translation  of  ^.  —  i;^"'  must 
mean  either  remainder  or  abundance  or  excellence  ;  see  note  on  this  couplet 
above.  The  stem  has  the  sense  over  and  above  in  North  Sem.  (Ass.  Aram. 
Heb.)  and  South  Sem.  (Arab.  Eth.) ;  in  all  these  dialects,  except  Ass.  (so 
far  as  reported  in  De.  Wbck.)  the  noun  also  means  string — whether  this  sense 
is  related  to  the  other  is  uncertain.  The  word  should  here  probably  be 
emended  to  ic'\ 

8.   Power  of  a  bribe.     The  Heb.  reads : 

A  stone  of  favor  (or,  beauty)  is  a  gift  in  the  eyes  of  its  possessor  — 
Whithersoever  he  (or,  it)  turns,  he  (or,  it)  prospers  (or,  acts  cleverly). 

Extensive  (second  cl.  explaining  first  cl.),  quaternary-ternary. 
Gift  here,  from  the  connection,  =  <?ir/^^,  as  in  Ex.  23^  (=  Dt. 
16^')  Isa.  i^  i/'  15^.  The  possessor  (or,  owne?-)  is  more  naturally 
the  briber,  who  succeeds  by  bribing ;  if  it  be  taken  as  =  the 
bribed,  the  meaning  is  that  the  latter,  stimulated  by  the  gift,  does 
his  best  {acts  cleverly,  skilfully,  wisely),  or  is  successful.  The 
stone,  if  characterized  by  beauty,  =  precious  stone  (cf.  i^  3^^),  and 
the  meaning  will  be  that  the  bribe,  as  a  costly,  precious  thing  con- 
trols the  action  of  venal  magnates.  But  this  sense  is  too  nearly 
tautologous  to  be  probable  —  to  say  that  a  bribe  is  a  precious 
stone  is  to  say  nothing  to  the  point ;  a  bribe  was  in  fact  often  lit- 


XVII.  S-9  341 

erally  a  precious  stone,  generally  its  equivalent  in  money.  We 
expect  an  expression  describing  the  power  of  the  bribe,  and  such 
an  expression  is  furnished  by  Frankenberg's  interpretation  of 
stone  of  favor  ^%  =^  a.  stone  that  brings  favor,  a  lucky  stone  or 
magic  stone.  The  Heb.  expression  does  not  occur  in  this  sense 
elsewhere  in  OT.,  but  the  Israelites  had  amulets  (Ez.  13^''),  and 
charms,  sometimes  made  of  precious  stones,  were  widely  em- 
ployed in  antiquity.  The  rendering  :  a  bribe  is  a  source  of  good 
luck  gives  an  intelligible  thought.  —  The  expression  in  the  eyes  of, 
=  in  the  estimation  of,  suits  the  bribed  better  than  the  briber, 
though  it  may  be  understood  of  the  latter;  the  reading  in  the 
hands  (?/"  would  be  more  appropriate  for  the  briber. — The  couplet 
must  be  taken  to  mean  either  : 

A  bribe  is  a  beautiful  thing  in  the  estimation  of  him  who  accepts  it, 
And  he  (accordingly)  in  all  respects  acts  skilfully  (or,  successfully) ; 
or : 

A  bribe  is  a  thing  of  power  in  the  hands  of  him  who  gives  it, 
In  all  that  he  undertakes  he  prospers. 

The  latter  interpretation  is  the  more  probable.  If  in  second  cl. 
//  be  substituted  for  he,  the  general  sense  remains  the  same  :  the 
bribe  succeeds.  —  The  two  meanings  of  the  verb  {acts  tuiscly  and 
succeeds)  are  substantially  identical ;  one  states  the  manner,  the 
other  the  result  of  action;  see  i  Sam.  18^  Isa.  52'^,  and  cf.  Pr. 
jq5.  19  j^35  J ^24  jg2o  j  ^2  j ^14  2  j  12,  xhe  sagc  statcs,  without  com- 
ment, a  fact  of  experience  :  bribery  is  a  potent  means  of  success. 
It  is  forbidden  in  Ex.  23''  a  I. 

9.   Forbearance  promotes  friendship. 

He  who  covers  up  transgression  seeks  love, 
He  who  harps  on  a  matter  alienates  his  friend. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Similar  reflections  are  found  in  10^  16^. 
He  who  covers  vp  (is  silent  about)  the  hasty  speeches  and  ill- 
advised  acts  of  his  friend  thus  puts  aside  occasions  of  quarrel, 
and  promotes  kindliness  of  feeling ;  he  who  repeats  (or,  spreads 
abroad,  or,  harps  on)  imprudent  talk  alienates  his  friend.  The 
proverb  is  concerned  not  with  crime  but  with  gossip.  The  inver- 
sion of  subject  and  predicate,  so  as  to  read  he  covers  transgression 
who  seeks  love  (De.,  who  refers  to  10'-),  is  possible,  but  accords 


342 


PROVERBS 


less  well  with  seeond  cl.,  in  which  the  man's  mode  of  dealing  with 
his  friend's  slips  of  word  and  deed  is  the  subject ;  in  lo^^  the 
point  of  view  is  different  —  hatred  and  love  are  the  subjects. — 
On  friend  see  notes  on  2^^  16^;  on  alienates  (=  separates)  notes 
on  i62»  i8'«,  and  cf.  18'  19^ 

10.  A  wise  man  heeds  criticism. 

A  reproof  enters  deeper  into  a  man  of  sense 
Than  a  hundred  stripes  into  a  fool. 

Simple  comparison,  ternary.  The  Grk.,  following  a  different  point- 
ing of  the  Heb.,  has  :  "a  threat  humbles  (lit.  crushes)  the  heart 
of  a  man  of  sense,  but  a  fool,  though  scourged,  does  not  under- 
stand." The  general  meaning  is  the  same  in  the  two  forms  ; 
there  is  no  good  ground  for  changing  the  present  Hebrew.  The 
proverb  is  an  observation  of  common  experience,  and  has  paral- 
lels in  other  Hteratures.  Hundred  is  a  large  round  number ;  cf. 
the  legal  "  forty  stripes  save  one."  We  may  render  :  "  a  reproof 
affects  (or,  benefits),"  etc. — Enters  is  Ht.  descends;  Hitzig  com- 
pares Sallust,  Jug.  1 1  :  altius  in  pectus  descendit. 

11.  Rebellion  is  dangerous. 

A  i  rebel  >  seek  to  do  mischief, 

But  a  terrible  messenger  is  sent  to  him. 

Continuous  sentence,  ternary  (as  the  text  stands).  The  first  cl. 
reads  literally  :  rebellion  seeks  only  mischief,  or  possibly,  rebellion 
certainly  seeks,  etc.  —  the  translation  above  given  involves  a  slight 
change  of  text ;  there  is  no  good  authority  in  OT.  usage  for  the 
statement  (De.  Siegfried  «/.)  that  the  abstract  rebellion  is  used  for 
the  concrete  rebellious  (in  Ez.  2'  44*^  we  should  read,  with  Grk., 
house  of  rebellion).  Grk.  (followed  by  Lat.  and  RV.)  inverts  this 
order  of  subject  and  predicate:  every  bad  man  stirs  up  strifes, 
but  so  general  an  allegation  does  not  account  for  the  sharp  threat 
of  the  second  clause.  The  statement  a  bad  man  seeks  only  rebel- 
lion (as  the  Heb.  may  be  rendered)  is  not  true  unless  the  last 
term  is  taken  (as  it  is  used  elsewhere  in  OT.)  as  —  "disobedience 
to  God  "  ;  so  it  seems  to  be  understood  in  part  by  the  Grk., 
which  renders  the  second  cl.  :  but  the  Lord  will  send  to  him  a  pit- 


XVII.  9-12  343 

iless  arjgel  (or,  messenger'),  that  is,  some  frightful  misfortune 
(storm,  pestilence,  or  the  like).  This  sense  is,  however,  here  im- 
probable—  if  Yahxueh  were  meant  to  be  the  subject,  it  would  be 
expressed  —  and  the  second  cl.  suggests  that  some  flagrant  crime 
like  rebellion  is  had  in  mind,  and  then  the  subject  of  the  sentence 
is  naturally  a  rebellious  man  or  a  rebel.  Rebellious,  in  the  sense 
of  "  disobedience  to  God,"  is  distinctively  a  term  of  the  Prophetic 
thought.  If  the  text  be  correct  (as  to  which  there  is  ground  for 
doubt)  the  proverb  is  purely  political  (like  23'''^,  etc.),  affirming 
that  rebellion  against  constituted  authority  is  an  evil  and  danger- 
ous thing.  Such  an  opinion  might  suit  many  different  periods  of 
history  :  it  might  possibly  belong  to  the  time  of  Ezekiel,  who  (Ez. 
17)  denounces  Zedekiah  for  his  rebellion  against  the  King  of 
Babylon,  or  to  the  fifth  or  fourth  century  B.C.,  when  the  Jews  were 
accused  (Neh.  6*^*)  of  wishing  to  make  themselves  independent 
of  Persia,  or  when  (according  to  Euseb.  Chroiu,  in  the  Armenian 
translation)  a  considerable  body  of  Jews  was  deported,  by  Artax- 
erxes  Ochus,  to  Hyrcania  in  punishment  for  an  uprising ;  but  it 
more  naturally  falls  in  the  Greek  period  when  rebellions  were  rife 
in  the  various  provinces  into  which  Alexander's  empire  was  di- 
vided..—  The  emendation:  the  king  will  send  a  terrible  one 
against  him  (Dyserinck)  gives  a  good  sense  (substantially  iden- 
tical with  that  of  our  Heb.),  and  should,  perhaps,  be  adopted. 
On  terrible  (or,  cruel)  see  5^  11^''  12'"  Jer.  6~^  Isa.  13^. 

12.  A  fool  is  dangerous. 

Meet  a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps 
Rather  than  a  fool  in  his  folly. 

Continuous  sentence  with  implied  comparison,  binary.  Lit. :  let 
a  bear,  etc.,  meet  a  man  rather,  etc.  For  the  picture  of  the  bear 
see  2  Sam.  17^  Hos.  13^.  The  point  of  comparison  is  the  danger 
involved  in  the  two  meetings ;  in  the  animal  the  danger  arises 
from  her  ferocious  anger,  in  the  fool  from  his  intellectual  and 
moral  idiocy  —  he  is  capable  of  everything,  his  folly  is  an  integral 
part  of  him.  The  couplet  may  be  based  on  an  old  folk-saying. 
—  Grk.  (with  a  peculiar  reading  of  the  Heb.)  :  care  may  come  on 
a  wise  man,  but  fools  7neditate  evil. 


344 


PROVERBS 


13.  Punishment  of  returning  evil  for  good. 

Whoso  returns  evil  for  good, 

From  his  house  evil  shall  not  depart. 

Simple  afifirmation,  ternary.  Such  base  ingratitude,  it  is  said,  will 
be  punished  —  whether  through  the  social  laws  that  spring  from 
men's  moral  sense,  or  by  direct  divine  action,  is  not  said.  For 
the  phrase  of  first  cl.  see  i  Sam.  25^^  and  on  returning  good  for 
evil  see  Pr.  25-^-^. 

8.  %}  nnt'H  ]n  px,  for  which  (5  has  fxia-Obs  xap/rwi'  iraidela;  Lag.,  with 
probability,  emends  to  ffradfjibs  for  fx.,  and  i-n-idocns  for  tt.;  ^,  inverting,  nd3 
NHDn  Nnnt'i;  .S  misunderstands;  3L  gemma  gratissima  expectatio  praesto- 
lantis.  —  9.  |^  r\rc  repeat  (with  3  introducing  the  thing  in  which  the  repeti- 
tion occurs)  gives  a  good  sense;  Gr.  emends  to  tmv  errs,  and  Winckler  to 
njtt'D  reports,  a  meaning  which  occurs  in  Ass.  (De.  IVbch.')  but  not  in  Heb.  — 
(5  M'"""  KpinrTeiv,  in  which  /x.  =  xjtr  (and  so  ST),  and  k.  may  be  rendering  of 
"I3T  understood  as  =  the  idea  contained  in  the  noDD  of*  (Lag.).  On  Si,  which 
is  based  on  (§,  see  Pinkuss.  —  10.  In  |§  nnn  (from  nnj)  the  first  rad.  is  assimi- 
lated, and  the  tone,  for  rhythmical  reasons,  is  retracted;  the  assimilation  occurs 
also  in  Jer.  21^^  Job  21^^,  but  not  in  xj/  38^;  cf.  01s.  §  237  a,  Ges.^s  §  66  f.  The 
stem  is  perhaps  Aramaic.  —  (5  in  '^  has  free  rendering  of  |§ ;  in  •>  it  seems  to 
have  read  dnd  ^v^  nrna  (Jag.  Lag.)  or  to  have  taken  nnn  from  nnn  (awTpi- 
^et),  a  reading  which  Frank,  adopts;  the  derivation  from  nm  seems  more 
appropriate.  ^  expands  |^;  ^  follows  (g;  2L  =  ?!?.  — 11.  |^  IN  (wanting  in 
(5S9r,  in  3L  rendered  by  semper)  taken  either  as  =  on/y  or  as  =  certainly,  is 
inapposite,  and  the  abstract  nn  (read  naiD  in  @lL)is  here  very  improbable,  if 
not  impossible;  read  nn  tivx  (as  S^SC  have  it).  —  After  rhv  the  Prep.  3  seems 
properly  to  introduce  the  object  which  one  stretches  out  the  hand  to  grasp; 
we  should  here  perh.  read  iS  or  vSn.  —  Before  yT  Bi.,  following  ©,  inserts  ':'3; 
for  1^  -[N'^n  Gr.  reads  tSriD  (so  6^1),  but  the  difference  is  not  important;  Dys., 
more  probably,  i^n  and  TWq\  — 12.  For  the  Heb.  of  ^^  Jag.  suggests  rn 
Sst'  t:'N3  i^3Ni;  in  ''  (5  read  Sn  instead  of  ^n  :  to  a  fool  is  folly.  ,S  in  ''  follows 
@,  only  doubling  the  subject  {^care  and  fear),  in  l"  =  |^,  with  '?N  for  '?n.  (ZT  in  '^ 
mingles  |^  and  <§,  in  b,  reading  "^x,  interprets  pj.     IL  =  |^. 

14.  Of  quarrelling. 

Text  and  translation  are  doubtful.  Our  Heb.  may  be  rendered  : 
a  letter  out  of  water  is  the  beginning  of  strife,  and  before  getting 
7u rough t  up  (=  excited,  angry)  leave  off  contention,  or  .  .  .  before 
contention  (or,  quarrelling^  breaks  out,  leave  off.  The  word  ren- 
dered getting  wrought  up  (or,  quarrelling)  occurs  elsewhere  in  OT. 


XVII.  13-15  345 

only  in  iS^  20'',  on  which  see  notes.*  The  reference  in  the  first 
Hne  of  our  Heb.  text  seems  to  be  to  making  a  small  aperture  in  a 
dam  or  in  anything  which  prevents  the  flow  of  water  :  it  is  easy  to 
let  the  water  out,  hard  to  stop  it  —  the  aperture  grows  larger,  and 
the  flow  of  water  stronger.  This  construction  is  intelligible, 
though  the  language  is  somewhat  indefinite  ;  we  should  expect 
mention  of  the  point  whence  the  water  is  let  out ;  in  any  case,  we 
must,  for  grammatical  accuracy,  read  :  a  letting  out,  etc.  The 
Grk.  gives  what  is  perhaps  a  better  text  by  reading  words  instead 
oi  water,  whence  we  have  :  outpouring  of  words  is  the  beginning 
of  strife,  a  warning  against  thoughtless  talk,  as  in  10"  17-^  —  In 
the  second  line  the  norm  of  the  Book  leads  us  to  expect  an  asser- 
tion (parallel  to  that  of  first  line)  that  something  comes  before 
something  (as  in  15^^  16^*) — perhaps  (omitting  the  leave  off)  : 
before  conflict  goes  quarrelling,  a  progression  in  the  thought. 
Either  the  rendering  of  RV.  {leave  off  contention  before  there  be 
quarrelling')  or  that  of  Siegfried  (before  contention  break  out  leave 
off)  is,  however,  possible.  Whatever  the  precise  form  of  the 
aphorism  may  be,  its  general  sense  is  clear  —  it  is  a  warning 
against  strife. 

15.   God  abhors  judicial  corruption. 

He  who  gives  judgment  for  the  wicked  and  he  who  condemns  the  righteous 
Are  both  of  them  an  abomination  to  Yahweh. 

Simple  affirmation,  quaternary-ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  The 
offence  described  is  that  of  the  unjust  judge,  controlled  by  preju- 
dice, passion,  servility  to  governors,  or  a  bribe.  The  Heb.  of 
first  cl.  contains  an  assonance  that  cannot  well  be  imitated  in 
modern  English,  somewhat  as  he  who  rights  the  wrong  and  he 
who  wrongs  the  right  (the  verb  right  as  in  Shakspere,  Jiich.  III. 
I,  3).  The  rendering  of  ^W.,  justifies  (that  \s,  pronounces  fust), 
now  conveys  a  wrong  impression,  one  too  distinctly  ethical,  and 
acquits  is  too  narrow  a  term,  since  the  bad  man  is  not  necessarily 
the  defendant  in  the  trial.  From  this  Heb.  word  the  forensic  ex- 
pression y«j-///i'  has  passed  into  NT.  (Rom.  3'",  etc.).      Wicked  is 

*  Schult.  De.  al.  take  it  (from  Arab,  and  Syr.)  to  mean  show  the  teeth  (in  sign 
of  anger),  whence  quarrel ;  according  to  others  (Siegfried  al.)  it  means  break 
forth  (in  a  hostile  way). 


346  PROVERBS 

he  whose  cause  is  bad,  righteous  he  whose  cause  is  good.  On 
abomination  see  note  on  3^^  For  the  idea  of  tlie  couplet  cf.  Ex. 
23^  Dt.  25I  Isa.  5^3  I  K.  8^-  Job  34''  "A  94^'  Pr.  24-^ 

16.  Wisdom  is  beyond  the  fool's  reach. 

If  the  fool  has  money  to  buy  wisdom, 
What  boots  it,  since  he  has  no  mind? 

Question,  really  prose,  but  arranged  in  ternary  form.  Lit.  why 
(or,  of  what  avail)  is  there  a  price  in  the  fooVs  hand  to  buy  wis- 
dom, and  intellect  (lit.  heart)  there  is  none  ?  Grk. :  why  has  a 
fool  wealth  ?  for  a  dolt  cannot  buy  wisdom.  The  term  fool  ap- 
pears to  refer  to  both  intellectual  and  moral  weakness,  since  wis- 
dom in  Pr.  is  commonly  employed  in  the  wider  sense.  There 
may  be  an  allusion  to  attendance,  by  mentally  and  morally  weak 
persons,  on  the  instruction  of  sages;  but,  as  it  is  doubtful  whether 
fees  were  taken  by  the  Jewish  teachers,  the  proverb  may  merely 
affirm  that  wisdom  cannot  be  got  without  certain  qualities  of 
mind.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  Book,  the  fool  is  absolutely  ex- 
cluded from  the  domain  of  wisdom,  and  nothing  is  said  of  a 
change  of  mind  whereby  he  may  enter  it.  De.  cites  the  "  golden 
proverb "  of  Democritus  :  "  there  are  many  who  have  learning 
without  mind  (voCv)  "  ;  but  the  antithesis  of  Pr.  goes  deeper  — 
the  fool  is  not  merely  lacking  in  breadth  and  fineness  of  intellect- 
ual apprehension,  he  is  also  unsympathetic  toward  all  knowledge 
and  wisdom.  Mind  is  properly  "  capacity  to  learn,"  which  here 
probably  involves  "disposition  to  learn." — The  Grk.  adds  a 
couplet  made  up  from  v.'^"  and  v.-". 

17.  Value  of  friendship. 

A  friend  is  always  friendly, 

A  brother  is  born  for  adversity. 

Identical,  ternary.  As  symbols  of  steadfast,  helpful  affection 
friend  and  brother  are  here  (as  in  \p  35",  cf.  2  Sam.  i-")  equiva- 
lents :  one  is  loving  at  all  times,  even  in  times  of  trial ;  the  other 
is  born  for  ( =  intended  for,  adapted  to,  exercises  his  specific 
function  in)  adversity,  the  occasion  which  most  severely  tests 
friendship.  —  Many  recent  translators  (De.  Reuss,  Kamp.  RV. 
marg.  al.)  adopt  the  rendering  and  is  born  as  a  brother  for  (or, 


XVII.  i5-i8  347 

in)  adversity,  that  is,  the  true  friend,  in  time  of  trial,  is,  as  it  were, 
born  anew  into  blood-kinship  and  assumes  the  role  of  brother. 
This  translation  gives  substantially  the  same  sense  as  the  other, 
identifying /;■/(?//(■/ and  brother  in  respect  of  faithfulness,  but  is  less 
natural,  and  less  exact.  —  Some  interpret  the  second  line  as  ex- 
pressing a  contrast  to  (and  an  advance  on)  the  first  line,  with  the 
sense  :  "  a  friend,  it  is  true,  is  always  friendly,  but  in  time  of  trial 
it  is  the  brother  (at  other  times  indifferent)  that  comes  forward  "  ; 
but  the  term  always  appears  to  include  times  of  trial ;  the  friend 
is  not  friendly  in  fair  weather  only,  and  the  brother  does  not  con- 
fine his  kindness  to  seasons  of  adversity.  A  brother  is  a  natural 
representative  of  unselfish  love;  but  Pr.  in  two  places  (i8^^  19^) 
represents  the  fraternal  relationship  as  far  from  perfect,  and  in 
two  places  (18-*  27^")  puts  it  below  the  relationship  of  friend  or 
neighbor  —  that  is,  it  estimates  the  bond  of  social  affection  as 
higher  than  that  of  blood.  —  On  the  value  of  friendship  see  BS. 
^14-16  2  223_  'Y\\Q  love  of  sister  for  brother  or  of  brother  for  sister  is 
nowhere  directly  spoken  of  in  OT.  (in  2  Sam.  13-°  Absalom  is 
next  of  kin  and  natural  protector),  but  the  word  sister  is  used  as 
=  dear  friend  (y'*  Cant.  ^  al.). 

18.  Folly  of  going  security. 

Void  of  sense  is  he  who  pledges  himself, 
Who  becomes  security  to  another. 

Identity  of  predicates,  quaternary  or  ternary.  Pledges  himself  is 
\\\..  strikes  hands;  on  the  expression  see  notes  on  6^  11'^.  The 
another  refers  to  the  creditor.  To  another  is  Ht.  in  the  presence 
of  his  neighbor.  Grk.  :  for  his  own  friends,  with  the  same  gen- 
eral sense.  Similar  warnings  are  given  in  6'^  11^''  20^*^  22^*^  27'^ 
BS.  29^*'-^'.  The  OT.  law  says  nothing  of  such  security;  the  cus- 
tom arose,  doubtless,  in  the  later  commercial  life. 

19,  20.   Strife  and  falseness  are  destructive. 

19.  He  loves  i  wounds  >  who  loves  strife, 

He  who  I  talks  >  proudly  seeks  destruction. 

20.  A  false  heart  finds  no  good, 

A  lying  tongue  falls  into  calamity. 


348  PROVERBS 

19.  Chiastic  parallelism,  quaternary  (or,  binary).  Instead  of 
wounds  the  Heb.  has  sin,  not  here  appropriate,  the  corresponding 
term  in  second  cl.  being  de  s  true  Hon ;  the  emendation  requires 
only  a  shght  change  in  the  Hebrew.  In  second  cl.  the  text  reads  : 
he  who  tnakes  high  his  door,  which  is  understood  to  refer  to  the 
pride  and  ostentation  shown  by  building  the  house-door  high  *  ; 
but  no  such  custom  is  known  to  have  existed  in  antiquity,  and  the 
paralleHsm  calls  for  an  expression  referring  to  strife ;  the  change 
of  a  letter  gives  the  reading  makes  high  his  ?nouth,  =  speaks  lof- 
tily, haughtily  ;  cf.  the  similar  expression  s/eah  loftily  in  i  Sam.  2^.\ 
—  The  parallehsm  involves  the  idea  that  proud  words  occasion 
strife,  and  strife  is  always  injurious,  often  destructive.  Cf.  ii" 
i8^^  20''  29''^^ — 20.  Synonymous,  binary-ternary.  Lit. /;^  who  is 
false  in  heart  (=  mind,  inward  being)  and  he  who  is  false  in 
tongue ;  on  the  first  of  these  terms  for  false  see  note  on  2'^  — it 
means  "  that  which  deviates  from  the  straight  line,"  "  morally 
crooked";  the  second  means  "  that  which  is  turned  away  from 
the  proper  form."  Finds  =  meets  with.  The  good  and  calamity 
(lit.  evil)  relate  not  to  moral  advantage  or  disadvantage,  but,  as 
appears  from  the  whole  course  of  thought  in  the  Book,  to  external 
prosperity  or  adversity ;  it  would,  besides,  be  tautological  to  say 
that  the  liar  is  not  niorally  good. 

21.   Children  not  always  a  joy. 

He  who  begets  a  dolt  does  it  to  his  sorrow, 
And  the  father  of  a  fool  has  no  joy. 

Identical,  ternary.  The  two  terms  dolt  (Heb.  kesil)  and  fool 
(Heb.  nabal)  are  here  practically  identical  in  meaning.  The 
former  (which  occurs  nearly  fifty  times  in  Pr.,  see  note  on  i^-) 
is  "  dull,  slow-witted,"  intellectually,  morally,  or  religiously ;  the 
latter  (found  elsewhere  in  Pr.  only  in  17''  30",  and  less  than 
twenty  times  in  the  whole  OT.)  commonly,  outside  of  Pr.,  relates 
to  religious  folly.  Here  the  reference  may  be  to  intellectual  and 
moral  stupidity,  or  to  the  intellectual  sort  alone.  Cf.  v."'  of  this 
chapter,  and  BS.  22'.  —  Grk.   (imitating  10^)   adds:    but  a  wise 

*  The  Grk.  has :   who  makes  his  house  high. 

t  Aben  Ezra,  Schult.  al.  interpret  door  as  =  mouth,  but  this  is  an  improbable 
metaphor. 


XVII.  19-22  349 

son  makes  a  glad  mother,  an  antithesis  which  might  naturally  have 
been  appended  by  a  scribe. 

22.   Cheerfulness  is  health. 

A  cheerful  heart  is  a  good  medicine, 
But  a  broken  spirit  dries  up  the  bones. 

Antithetic,  quaternary  (or,  binary).  Cf.  is''',  to  first  cl.  of  which 
our  first  cl.  is  conformed  by  some  critics ;  but  the  variation  of  the 
Heb.  seems  more  probable.  On  heart  and  spirit  see  notes  on  2^ 
and  11'^;  both  terms  here  relate  to  temper  of  mind  —  in  first  cl. 
we  have  a  cheery,  courageous  nature,  in  second  cl.  a  broken-spir- 
ited, dejected,  downcast  nature.  In  first  cl.  the  predicate  is  lit. 
causes  good  healing  (or,  recovery^.  The  bones,  as  skeleton,  repre- 
sent the  whole  body ;  they  may  be  vigorous,  fat,  full  of  marrow 
(3"  15''°  16'^  Isa.  58"),  or  feeble,  rotten,  eaten  by  caries  (12''  14^" 
\\i  3i'"('^*  Job  30^")  ;  in  this  verse  the  dryness  is  contrasted  with 
\X\&  fatness  (fulness  of  marrow)  of  healthy  bones.  The  reference 
is  primarily  to  the  physiological  effect  of  temper  of  mind,  and 
then,  perhaps,  to  the  general  effect  on  life  ;  as  to  the  old-Hebrew 
conception  of  the  relation  of  the  bones  to  the  rest  of  the  body, 
the  process  of  nourishment  in  bones,  and  the  relation  of  mind  to 
body  we  have  no  precise  information.  For  similar  sayings  among 
other  peoples  see  Malan ;  on  ancient  medicine  see  art.  Medicine 
in  Smith,  Diet,  of  Bible. 

14.  •\")-)  or  Tp'j  is  better  than  |^  to'^  (so  Gr.).  —  On  the  stem  y^i  see  Schult. 
Ges.  Thes.  BDB.  From  Arab,  it  appears  to  signify  uncover,  disclose  (=  Heb. 
n'?)),  then  shoiu  the  teeth,  qiiari'el,  rage  ;  the  last-named  meaning  suits  the  use 
of  the  Hith.  in  Pr.;  Gr.  (after  Nidda,  viii.  2)  takes  it  as  =  burst  forth  (so  also 
Siegf.);  Heb.  n*^',  Syr.  •;'?',  Arab.  i^\  seem  to  be  different  stems.  Frank., 
in  opposition  to  the  rendering  before  there  be  conflict,  says  that  'n*^  is  never 
used  in  dehortation,  but  always  introduces  something  that  actually  precedes; 
yet  cf.  Gen.  2'f  v'^b  ^ii-.  —  (S  is  partly  corrupt,  partly  based  on  a  different 
Heb.  text  from  ours:  i^ovalav  SiSjiaiv  perh.  =  -iji  gives  free  course  (but  Jag. 
refers  to  ^  22^) ;  Xdyots  =  "^r:  (instead  of  :)".);  diKaiocrOvrjs  is  perh.  for  5ia5i- 
Kaa-ias  and  ivdelas  for  avaiSelas  (-<\-r)  (Jcig  ).  —  S>  read  ■:•-  for  ::':  ,  and 
perh.  2-'-.-i  for  v'^i-n  (Baum.);  C  appears  to  expand  S>  (cf.  Pinkuss);  Wei 
antequam  p.jtiatur  contumeliani  (perh.  =  before  lie  is  stripped^  judicium  dese- 
rit.  — 16.  On  the  arrangement  of  lines  in  (S  see  note  on  v.'^  below.  —  17.  To 
take  "l"^  -'^  as  —  in  adversity  is  perh.  possible,  but  is  here  hardly  natural.  —  In  *> 
(@  has  a  doublet,  the  second  member  of  which  is  abridged;  or  this  second  line 


350  PROVERBS 

may  be  an  interpretative  gloss.  ^  y-}^  ^^^'  according  to  Jag.,  understood  by 
(3  as  Hif.  Impv.  of  n-;-\  make  thee  a  friend.  —  18.  (§1L  take  ^d  ^\iT\  as  a  gesture 
of  joy.  —  1^  inyn  -ijoS;  Gr.,  retaining  sense  of  |^,  t  ]";cS;  Bi.,  after  (§  (twv 
eo.vTo\j  (plXiijv)  n-n^,  making  the  reference  general  —  the  nature  of  the  warning 
is  not  thereby  affected.  — 19.  ^  ^'^^'s;  Gr.  ps?,  which  is  preferable.  —  In  (5 
the  order  of  lines  differs  from  that  of  |^ :  after  v.^^  come  v.^^''  and  a  modified 
form  of  v.'^"*,  then  v.^''  («■'">  doublet),  is.  i9a.  2).  the  change  is  due  to  an  error  of  a 
Grk.  scribe. — 1§  ^nr^S;  (5  rbv  eavrov  oIkov,  =  ina  or  inns,  a  good  sense,  but 
not  preferable  to  that  of  |^.  It  is  better,  however,  with  Frank.,  to  read  >s;  of. 
the  combination  of  njj  with  -i^--,  i  Sam.  2^.  —  21.  pj  -''^'';  (@  Kapdia,  =  2^. 
here  inapposite  and  against  the  parallelism ;  it  is  perh.  induced  by  the  k.  of 
v.-^.  —  22.  10  mi  is  most  naturally  connected  with  the  verb  of  Hos.  k,^^,  and 
so,  =  healing.  The  similarity  to  151^  has  suggested  the  sense  face,  for  which, 
however,  there  is  no  authority  (see  Arab,  nnj  and  nji).  The  primitive  signifi- 
cation of  the  stem  is  uncertain;  cf.  Syr.  xn',  flee,  tuithdraiv  (whence  perhaps 
our  noun,  =  cessation,  betterment^,  and  see  notes  of  De.  Now.,  and  the  lexi- 
cons.    (§  iwKTiiv;   ,S2r  read  hmi  body,  and  Dys.  Gr,  emend  to  nu. 

23.  Wickedness  of  taking  bribes. 

A  wicked  man  accepts  a  bribe 
To  pervert  the  course  of  justice. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.  Lit.  .  .  .  accepts  a  bribe  from  the  bosom 
(that  is,  of  a  briber)  .  .  .  the  ways  of  justice.  On  bosom  as  =  a 
part  of  a  garment,  and  on  its  use  as  pocket  see  notes  on  (y^  16^; 
on  bribe  (lit.  gift)  see  v.*  above,  and  on  the  power  of  gifts  cf. 
21".  The  rendering  .  .  .  takes  a  bribe  from  {fiis  ow7i)  bosom 
(that  is,  in  order  to  corrupt  a  judge  and  pervert  justice),  while 
possible,  accords  with  the  Heb.  and  with  parallel  sayings  less  well 
than  the  translation  above  adopted.  The  wicked  man  is  here  the 
corrupt  judge  or  other  influential  person. 

24,  25.   Inanity  and  oppressiveness  of  the  fool. 

24.  The  goal  of  the  man  of  understanding  is  wisdom, 
The  fool's  eyes  roam  over  all  the  world. 

25.  A  foolish  son  is  a  grief  to  his  father 
And  bitterness  to  her  that  bare  him. 

24.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.  in  front  of  the  man  of  understand- 
ing is  wisdom,  but  the  eyes  of  the  fool  are  on  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
The  man  of  tinde?-standing  (see  8^  17^"  2^)   is  he  who  compre- 


XVII.  23-26  351 

hends  the  issues  of  life,  and  makes  it  his  aim  to  attain  the  true 
principle  and  law  of  conduct  (the  divine  law  implanted  in  the 
mind  of  man);  the /;^;/,  on  the  other  hand  (Heb.  kesil,  see  v.^'), 
lacking  in  insight  and  stability,  is  incapable  of  fixing  his  attention 
on  any  one  thing,  and  therefore  does  not  seek  wisdom.  The  in- 
terpretation "  the  man  of  sense  sees  wisdom  everywhere,  the  fool 
seeks  it  unsuccessfully  everywhere"  (Ew.  al.)  is  improbable  — 
the  fool  is  not  represented  in  Pr.  as  seeking  wisdom  except  in  the 
moment  of  final  deadly  peril  (i"^),  while  the  reference  here  is  to 
the  man's  ordinary  thought,  and  the  point  is  his  lack  of  serious- 
ness ;  cf.,  on  the  other  hand,  the  attitude  of  the  scoffer  in  14^ 
For  the  expression  ends  of  the  earth  see  Jer.  25''''^  Dt.  28'''*  \^  135' 
Mt.  12^-  al.;  it  denotes  the  extremities  of  the  then  known  world, 
that  is,  the  region  south  of  Ethiopia,  the  south  of  Arabia,  the 
region  just  east  of  the  Tigris  (perhaps  to  the  centre  of  Asia),  Asia 
Minor,  and  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  —  25.  Identical, 
ternary-binary.  The  proverb  is  a  variation  of  10'  15-"  17^'.  Fool 
{kesil^  as  in  v.-'-^.  —  Delitzsch  makes  17-^-18-  a  separate  section 
on  the  ground  that  it  begins  and  ends  with  the  same  thoughts 
which  open  and  close  the  preceding  passage,  i7'^"''';  but  the 
repetition  of  a  proverb  hardly  warrants  such  a  division ;  see  the 
Introduction. 

26.  Against  injustice  under  forms  of  law. 

The  first  line  of  the  Heb.  is  clear  : 

Also  to  fine  the  righteous  is  not  good. 

The  word  also  (=  intensive  and),  which  implies  a  conjunction  or 
contrast  with  something  that  precedes,  is  here  without  significance, 
unless  we  suppose  a  lost  line  or  couplet  with  which  this  line  or 
this  couplet  stands  in  contrast  (possibly  18^)  ;  and  even  if  the 
order  of  lines  in  the  couplet  be  inverted,  the  word  will  still  be  in- 
apposite, since  the  relation  of  thought  between  the  two  lines  does 
not  call  for  such  an  emphatic  connective ;  the  rendering  even 
(Kamphausen  :  already)  is,  for  the  same  reason,  improper.  — 
Fine  (usually  employed  of  a  pecuniary  mulct,  Dt.  22^^  al.)  may 
=  more  generally  punish  (as  in  22^).  Not  good  =  not  proper. — 
The  second  line  may  be  rendered  :   To  smite  the  noble  /or  upright- 


352  PROVERBS 

ness  (RV.),  or:  ...  against  equity,  =  unpistly  (Frank,  at.),  or: 
.  .  .  is  against  equity,  =  is  unseemly  (Wild.).  The  first  sense  is 
improbable  :  in  first  line  the  bad  act  is  simply  punishing  a  just  or 
righteous  man  (without  the  addition  "  for  his  justice  or  righteous- 
ness "),  nor  in  fact  is  the  ''  noble  "  man  commonly  assailed  "  for 
(=  on  account  of)  his  nobleness,"  but  in  a  rapacious  spirit  which 
cares  not  whether  its  victim  be  noble  or  ignoble,  or  his  cause  just 
or  unjust.  The  second  rendering  (in  which  the  expression  is  not 
good  must  be  supplied  from  first  line)  involves  a  tautology  —  any 
punishment  of  a  righteous  man  must  be  unjust.  The  third  ren- 
dering gives  a  distinct  parallelism  of  predicates  in  the  clauses. 
Kamphausen  changes  the  text  and  renders  :  to  smite  the  noble  is 
so  in  high  degree  (that  is,  is  emphatically  not  good),  but  the  trans- 
lation is  doubtful,  and  a  cUmax  here  is  improbable.  —  If  the  word 
noble  be  retained,  it  must,  from  the  parallelism,  be  understood  in 
a  moral  sense,  as  =  righteous.  It  may  mean  nobleman,  prince 
(8'"  25^  Job  12^^  (/^  118^  al.),  or  zoilling,  freehearted  (Ex.  35^),  but 
also,  apparently,  morally  noble :  thus  in  v.^  of  this  chapter  i^  is 
put  over  against  fool,  and  in  Isa.  32^-^  is  contrasted  with  fool  and 
knave.  — Another  emendation  of  text  (Frank.)  gives  the  reading : 
to  oppress  {him)  in  court  unjustly  (or,  inequitably),  to  which  the 
tautology  {oppress  .  .  .  unjustly)  seems  a  decisive  objection. 
Probably  the  second  line  should  be  read  either :  it  is  not  seemly 
(or,  fair)  to  oppress  the  upright,  or :  //  is  not  seemly  to  pervert 
justice.  Cf.  18^,  which  appears  to  be  a  variation  of  this  couplet, 
and  after  it  our  line  might  be  read  :  to  oppress  the  upright  in 
court. 

27,  28.   Value  of  silence.  —  Identical,  quaternary-ternary  (or, 
ternary) . 

27.  He  who  is  sparing  of  words  is  wise, 
A  man  of  cool  spirit  is  judicious. 

28.  Even  a  fool,  if  he  hold  his  peace,  is  accounted  wise. 
Sensible,  if  he  keep  his  lips  shut. 

27.  Cf.  10^'.  First  cl.  lit.  .  .  .  kiioivs  knowledge ;  cf.  4^,  hiow 
understandijig.  The  man  of  cool  spirit  (lit.  he  who  is  cool  of 
spirit)  is  one  who  maintains  composure  and  self-control,  is  not 
under  the  dominion  of  excited  feeling,  and  is  therefore  cautious  in 


XVTT.  26-28  353 

speaking ;  the  proverb  is  primarily  directed  not  against  literary 
loquacity  (though  this  may  well  be  included),  but  against  lan- 
guage which  may  stir  up  ill  feeling.  —  Subjects  and  predicates 
may  be  inverted,  so  as  to  read  :  The  wise  man  is  sparing  of  words, 
the  judicious  man  is  cool.  —  The  ancient  Heb.  editors  (in  the  Ma- 
sora)  read,  in  second  cl.,  he  who  is  precious  (=  costly,  dear,  rare) 
of  spirit,  which  is  interpreted  by  Rashi  (perhaps  guided  by  first 
cl.)  to  mean  he  who  is  sparing  of  words,  by  others  of  zuorthy  bear- 
ing (Saadia)  or  character  (Schult.  AV.).  The  two  last  render- 
ings are  tautological  (cf.  De.)  ;  the  translation  cool  (which  is 
generally  adopted  by  recent  expositors)  seems  satisfactory ;  Grk. 
longanimous ;  Targ.  humble.  —  Wise,  lit.  a  ma7i  of  wisdom  (or, 
comprehension^.  —  28.  The  meaning  is  not  that  the  fool  shows 
wisdom  in  keeping  silence,  but  that  silence  conceals  folly,  and  is, 
moreover,  commonly  regarded  as  a  sign  of  profundity.  See  many 
proverbs,  similar  to  these  two,  in  Malan's  Notes. 

23.  (S  gives  a  very  free  rendering  of  the  whole  couplet  as  a  single  sentence, 
and  adds  a  doublet  of  the  second  half;  see  Lag.'s  attempt  to  explain  the  word- 
ing, and  Baum.'s  criticism  of  Lag.  —  S  he  tuho  receives  bribes  is  tuickeil,  and  per- 
verts (he  way  of  justice,  less  probable  than  |^.  —  24.  |l?  ^JD  tn  alongside  of,  in 
front  of;  Gr.  emends  improperly  to  ^n  '^n  toward.  Before  73*:  Bi.  inserts  t'», 
unnecessarily;  sense  and  rhythm  in  |^  are  good.  In  (SSST  rss-  is  not  ren- 
dered.—  With  (!|:03. 147.  253  the  Grk.  text  is  better  read  trpiauiirov  crweTOv  dv8p6s 
aocpbv,  (!|S  giving  no  sense  (Lag.).  The  ]-\n  rejoice  of  ST^^s-  must  be  emended, 
after  Si,  to  •[•^•'J^  look,  as  in  the  Breslau  Codex  (Pink.).  —  26.  Omit  3J  as  mean- 
ingless (  f.  note  on  v.-^  below) .  The  *?  before  pis  is  improbable,  since  rj;?  is 
elsewhere  followed  by  noun  without  Prep,  (see  21II);  we  should  perh.  read 
tT^  (see  the  '^  in  b) ;  the  insertion  of  the  Prep,  before  the  noun  may  be  error 
of  eye,  or  may  be  due  to  an  Aramaic-speaking  scribe.  —  i^  r;n'';  better  ronS 
(F"rank.).  For  211  cf.  Arab.  3i:  active,  excellent  (  =  physically  or  morally  good), 
and  Eth.  3i]r  exposed  to  peril  {=  pressed  on)  ;  the  stem  perhaps  =  move  on, 
press  forzvard.  —  J^  nc^i  ■'^y  affords  no  satisfactory  sense;  read  "i-"'  ^^3  (Gr.),as 
©  ov5e  dcnov  (Dys.  tj'''  •■Sa)  •  the  emendation  IT';  -h';  superabundantly  (Kamp.) 
does  not  accord  with  the  context.  Si^T  who  say  what  is  right ;  IL  qui  recta 
judicat.  —  2t.  K  -\pi;  Q  ip\  The  latter  is  followed  freely  by  ©STIL  and  the 
medieval  Jewish  interpreters,  the  former  by  %. — 28.  |^  ai  introduces  a  con- 
trast between  the  '^is  and  the  naturally  suggested  a^n  (in  v?^  there  is  no 
such  natural  suggestion  of  contrast  between  pii"  and  >';•">).  —  <5  a.voT]ri^  itrepw- 
T-qcraPTi  (:-!-'::)  (yocpLav  a-o<pla  (n'i^p,)  \o-yLffd7)(7€Tai,  an  improbable  reading. 
On  the  unimportant  couplet  added  in  (5  *•  1*^1  to  v.-",  and  apparently  a  free 
variation  of  v.-^*,  see  Lag.  —  S  repeats  arnna  in  ^. 

2A 


354  PROVERBS 

XVIII.  1.  Our  Heb.  reads:  One  who  separates  himself  (or, 
holds  himself  aloof,  or,  is  alienated)  seeks  desire,  quarrels  with 
(or,  rages  against)  all  wisdom  (or,  quarrels  by  every  means). 
This  is  now  generally  held  to  mean  that  one  who  holds  himself 
aloof  from  his  friends  or  from  society  follows  his  own  selfish  de- 
sires and  ambitions,  and  opposes  everything  reasonable.*  This 
observation,  however,  does  not  accord  with  the  tone  of  Proverbs. 
The  character  thus  described  is  that  of  a  man  who,  wrapped  up 
in  himself,  ignores  the  interests  and  claims  of  the  community,  and 
thus  becomes  an  enemy  of  society.  The  same  thought,  in  ecclesi- 
astical form,  is  expressed  in  Hillel's  saying  {Pirke  Aboth,  2,  4)  : 
"separate  not  thyself  from  the  congregation,"  that  is,  "be  not  a 
separatist,  a  free-lance  or  schismatic,  do  not  withdraw  thyself 
from  the  mass  of  belief  and  custom  represented  by  the  commu- 
nity " —  an  idea  natural  to  an  Israelite  of  the  later  time,  but,  in  its 
broader  form  improbable  for  the  sages  of  Proverbs.  —  Grk.  (fol- 
lowed by  Lat.)  has  :  a  inan  who  wishes  to  separate  from  friends 
seeks  pretexts,  but  at  all  times  he  will  be  liable  to  reproach  (or,  per- 
haps, and  .  .  .  will  be  full  of  reproach),  which  reads  pretext  for 
desire  and  rvill  be  reproached  for  will  quarrel,  and  adds  from 
friends.  This  reading,  is  adopted  substantially  by  Hitzig  and 
Frankenberg.  The  latter  renders  :  the  alienated  friend  seeks  an 
occasion  [of  quarrel],  seeks  by  all  means  to  stir  up  strife,  which  in 
its  homely  tone  resembles  other  aphorisms  of  the  Book,  but 
appears  to  be  over-cynical.  The  renderings  at  all  times  (Grk.) 
and  by  all  means  (Frank.)  are  doubtful.  Hitzig's  translation  is 
not  more  satisfactory  :  he  who  is  excluded  [by  men  from  th  ^ir 
society]  seeks  an  occasion,  gnashes  his  teeth  against  all  that  is  ben- 
eficial [to  others].  It  seems  impossible  to  get  a  satisfactory 
sense  from  the  Hebrew,  and  no  good  emendation  presents  itself, 

2.  The  fool's  fatuousness, 

A  fool  takes  no  pleasure  in  sound  sense, 
But  rather  in  revealing  his  nature, 

*  So  Luth.  RV.  Ew.  De.  al.  For  the  views  of  the  early  commentators  see  Crit- 
ici  Sacri  and  Geier.  Aben  Ezra  explained  it  as  referring  to  the  traveller  who 
leaves  home  in  order  to  search  out  all  knowledge.  So  nearly  B.  Hodgson  (Ox- 
ford, 1788)  :  A  retired  man  piirsueth  the  researches  he  delighteth  in,  and  hath 
pleasure  in  each  branch  of  science,  a  pleasing  picture,  but  forbidden  by  the  verb 
of  the  second  clause. 


XVIII.  1-3  355 

Antithetic,  ternary.  On  fool  {kes'il)  see  notes  on  r'-  17-'.  Sound 
sense  is  co?nprehensio?i  and  the  conduct  which  follows  therefrom ; 
see  note  on  2^.  The  second  cl.  is  lit.  l?ut  in  his  mind's  \_heari's'] 
disclosing  itself.  The  fool,  that  is,  having  no  inkling  of  what  is 
wise  and  noble,  has  fatuous  satisfaction  in  following  out  and  man- 
ifesting his  intellectual  and  moral  feebleness,  which  he  regards  as 
wisdom. 

3.  Vice  entails  disgrace. 

When  I  wickedness  >  comes  then  comes  also  contempt, 
And  on  <  insolence  >  follows  scorn. 

Synonymous,  binary  (or,  quaternary-binary).  The  Heb.  reads: 
when  the  wicked  man  comes,  comes  also  contempt,  and  with  dis- 
grace is  scorn.  The  reading  wickedness  (obtained  by  a  change 
of  vowels)  is  favored  by  the  form  of  expression  of  first  cl.,  by  the 
second  cl.,  and  by  the  parallel  line  in  1 1^  {comes  pride,  then  comes 
disgrace) .  —  Of  the  three  other  nouns  of  our  Heb.  the  first  and 
third  are  active  (expressing  one's  feeling  toward  a  person),  the 
second  is  passive  (expressing  the  state  of  the  despised  person). 
The  relation  of  the  nouns  of  first  cl.  to  each  other  is  ambiguous  : 
the  contempt  may  be  felt  by  the  wicked  for  others,  or  by  others 
for  him  ;  the  second  sense  is  favored  by  the  parallelism  (the 
scorn  of  second  cl.  is  directed  toward  the  bad  man),  and  by  such 
proverbs  as  ii".  —  The  second  cl.  in  our  Heb.  affords  no  satisfac- 
tory sense.  Disgrace  cannot  be  taken  (Zockler)  as  =  shameful 
conduct  (synonymous  with  tvickedness) .  The  couplet  is  by  some  * 
understood  to  mean  :  "  the  wicked  man  despises  others,  but  with 
the  disgrace  which  he  inflicts  on  others  comes  scorn  from  others 
for  him,"  a  forced  interpretation  of  second  cl.  Others, f  following 
the  Grk.,  read  :  "  When  the  wicked  comes,  comes  also  contempt, 
disgrace,  and  scorn,"  which  is  grammatically  and  rhythmically 
improbable.  A  slight  change  of  text  gives  the  reading  for  sec- 
ond cl.  \  :  and  7vith  him  are  disgrace  and  scorn,  that  is,  he  (the 
wicked  man)  inflicts  these  on  others ;  this  (identical  in  sense 
with  Fleischer's  rendering,  but  grammatically  better)  is  intel- 
ligible, but  is  not  quite  natural.  —  A  parallel  to  first  cl.  is  got  if 

*  Strack,  al.  f  With  Fleischer.  %  Gratz,  Bickell. 


356  PROVERBS 

(by  an  easy  change  of  consonants)  we  substitute  insolence  (or, 
pride)  for  disgrace :  "with  wickedness  is  contempt,  with  pride  is 
scorn."  The  ambiguity  of  direction  in  scorn  remains  ;  for  the 
reasons  given  above  it  is  better  to  take  it  as  felt  toward  the  bad 
man.  Grk.  and  Lat.  regard  the  contempt  of  first  cl.  as  inflicted 
by  the  wicked  ;  in  second  cl.  Lat.  makes  him  the  sufferer,  Grk.  is 
doubtful.  —  On  contet?tpt,  disgrace,  scorn  see  notes  on  12*  3''^  6^. 
Tiie  distinction  made  by  Delitzsch,  that  the  first  and  third  of 
these  terms  relate  to  words,  and  the  second  to  conduct,  is  not 
warranted  by  OT.  usage. 

4.  The  Heb.  text  reads  :  The  words  of  a  maji's  mouth  are  deep 
waters,  a  flowing  brook,  a  7vellspring  of  wisdom.  This  unre- 
stricted statement  does  not  accord  with  the  thought  of  Prov.,  in 
which  no  such  excellence  is  ascribed  to  men  in  general  (in  12" 
the  text  is  to  be  changed)  ;  nor  can  we  take  man  as  =  "  the  ideal 
man,"  or  paraphrase  (Ew.  De.)  "  it  often  happens  that  the  words," 
etc.  —  this  is  not  in  the  manner  of  the  Book.  As  the  couplet 
stands,  the  7nan  must  be  qualified  by  some  term  like  "  good,"  or, 
"  wise,"  and  the  second  cl.  must  be  regarded  as  continuing  the 
predicate  of  first  cl.  To  take  second  cl.  as  an  independent  sen- 
tence, and  describe  the  wellspring  of  wisdom  as  a  flowing  hj-ook 
(RV.)  is  to  introduce  an  impropriety  of  language  —  a  fountain  is 
not  a  brook ;  and  the  rendering  the  words,  etc.,  are  deepened 
zvaters  [that  is,  of  a  cistern,  which  is  exhaustible],  the  weU<pring, 
etc.,  is  a  flowing  [or,  bubbling,  =  inexhaustible]  brook  (Hitz.) 
supposes  a  meaning  ("deepened")  which  the  Heb.  does  not 
permit,  and  thus  introduces  an  unwarranted  antithesis  between 
"man's  words"  and  "wisdom."  —  The  two  lines  of  the  couplet 
do  not  agree  well  together.  A  comparison  like  that  of  our  first  cl. 
is  found  in  20'^,  but  in  a  sense  which  is  hardly  applicable  here  : 
there  a  man's  secret  thought  is  compared  to  "  deep  water,"  as 
hard  to  fathom  and  get  possession  of;  here  the  deep  water  is 
rather  the  symbol  of  inexhaustible  supply,  a  sense  which  is  given 
by  the  parallel  terms  flowing  brook  and  wellspring.  This  inex- 
haustibleness  cannot  be  meant  to  be  affirmed  of  men  in  general ; 
the  man  must  be  defined.  We  may  supply  righteous  (as  in  10"), 
or  wise  (cf.  13^'*  16-^),  but  then  the  wisdom  of  second  cl.  will  not 


XVIII.  3-s  357 

be  appropriate  —  it  is  not  naturally  related  to  "righteous,"  and, 
with  "wise  "  in  first  cL,  it  would  produce  an  identical  proposition. 
Further,  the  tQxm  fountain  (Heb.  maqor),  when  it  is  used  meta- 
phorically, always  occurs  elsewhere  in  connection  with  the  idea  of 
"life"  (s^^  lo"  13"  14^'  16^^  Jer.  2^'  17"  ,/.  36«(i»'  68^'«^-^'>),  and  the 
definition  life  here  suits  the  context  better  than  wisdom.  The  ex- 
pression fountaiii  of  life  may  mean  either  "  fountain  of  life-giving 
water,"  or  "  perennial  fountain  "  ;  the  latter  sense  accords  with 
the  parallel  brook.  The  reading  life,  instead  of  wisdom,  is  found 
in  the  Grk.  and  in  a  few  Heb.  MSS. ;  the  testimony  of  the  latter 
is  not  of  great  value,  and  the  Greek  reading  may  be  a  correction 
after  10".  But  the  usage  of  Prov.  must  be  allowed  to  have 
weight,  and  we  should  perhaps  read  the  couplet :  The  words  of 
the  xvise  are  deep  waters,  a  flowing  brook,  a  perennial  fountain, 
that  is,  an  inexhaustible  source  of  counsel  and  blessing.  —  On 
word  z.%  equivalent  to  thought  see  note  on  10". 

5.   Against  legal  injustice. 

To  favor  the  guilty  is  not  good, 
Nor  to  oppress  the  innocent  in  court. 

Identical  thought  with  antithesis  of  terms,  ternary,  A  forensic 
saying,  =  17^*^  (cf.  17^^)  ;  guilty  and  innocent  axQ  the  terms  usually 
rendered  wicked  and  righteous  respectively.  Favor  is  lit.  lift  up 
the  face,  that  is,  "  raise  a  suppliant  from  the  ground  in  token  of 
favor"  (Lev.  19^^  Mai,  i^  2^  Job  13*  \\i  82^,  and  the  verb  alone  in 
Gen.  19-^,  =  accept)  ;  the  implication  here  is  that  the  favoring  is 
unjust.  —  The  Heb.  of  second  cl.  reads:  to  oppress  (lit.  turn 
aside,  that  is,  from  one's  rights),  etc.,  which  may  be  taken  to 
mean  so  as  to  oppress,  etc.  (RV.  marg.),  but  it  is  more  natural  to 
understand  second  cl.  as  simply  parallel  to  first  cl.  Court  is  lit, 
judgment,  =  legal  decision.  Lat.  :  that  thou  mayest  decline  from 
the  truth  of  justice  (reading  truth  or  righteousness  instead  oi  right- 
eous). Grk.  (expressing  the  implied  adjective)  :  nor  is  it  holy  to 
pervert  justice  in  judgment.  Cf.  i  K.  21^'^  Am.  5'-  Isa.  i^  Jer, 
22''  Ez.   22'-  al. 

XVIII.  1.  1^  niN— ;  (5  irporpdaeis,  =  njNP,  as  in  Ju.  14*  (Capp.  Cn'/.  Sac.  4, 
5,  13),  which  should,  perhaps,  be  adopted;  cf.  2  K.  5'^.  Possibly  jnj  slanderer 
should  be  read  instead  of  -ns:;  cf.  16^^;  the  S  of  |^  appears  to  be  taken  by  <S 


358  PROVERBS 

as  sign  of  Ace. — |^  ri-<^^r\  S^a;  (3  iv  iravrl  KaipQ,  perh.  free  rendering  of  J^; 
on  'r\  see  Lag  on  this  passage.  — 1§  ';iir-^ ;  (§  eTrocetSio-ros,  =  Sj.'j."ii  or  j"S."i> 
(Capp.  4,  7,  3).  —  On  S  and  ST  see  notes  of  Pink,  and  Baum.  —  2.  (5  ft7erat 
(supplied  by  the  translator)  is  apparently  scribal  error  for  6.-yaTaL  (Jag-),  and 
dtppocrvvri  is  interpretation  of  |§  u"?  n-iJ.nn,  or  perh.  (Gr.  Baum.)  represents 
n'7'?n  (which,  however,  it  does  not  represent  in  Eccl.  iqI^).  —  3.  |§  yu'i  and 
i'^p ;  read  •;•£'->  and  jir.  —  r3,  ]^p,  nflin,  are  general  terms  for  contempt,  which 
is  naturally  often  expressed  by  words,  sometimes  also  by  deeds;  see  12^  6^\ 
335  ^8;^^'',  6^^  Ju.  5I8.  Bi.  (and  so  Gr.  doubtfully)  reads  loyi.  —  (@  els  ^ddos 
is  ingeniously  explained  by  Jag.  as  =  DjNa  in^o  the  pool  (for  |^  aj  N3),  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  ^a.Oo's  would  be  used  for  djx,  a  word  which  (5  elsewhere 
in  or.  perfectly  understands;  one  might  rather  think  of  pD>';  cf.  /3a6i>  in  v.*, 
3§  apcp. — 4.  For  ::'vS  ^3  read  a^n  (Gr.  nja.-i  ^-n),  and  for  noon  read  D;n  (so  (S 
and  several  fieb.  MSS.).  —  (5  X670S  e;/  Kapdiq.  dvdpds,  =  trx  3^3  13"',  in  which 
aSa  appears  to  have  arisen  out  of  |^  oia  (in  ''d  i^i),  the  n  and  d  becoming  *? 
and  2  (Lag.).  —  (5  dvairriSveL  Lag.  regards  as  error  for  dvairidvei. 

6-8.  Foolish  and  slanderous  talk. 

6.  The  lips  of  a  fool  lead  him  into  strife, 
And  his  mouth  brings  on  him  stripes. 

7.  A  fool's  mouth  is  his  ruin, 
And  his  lips  a  snare  to  him. 

8.  The  words  of  a  slanderer  are  like  dainty  morsels, 
They  penetrate  into  the  innermost  recesses  of  a  man. 

6.  Identical,  ternary.  Cf.  ly^-^^  19-^201  Lit.  come  into  strife, 
—  lead,  etc. ;  or  a  slight  change  of  the  Heb.  will  give  lead  (so 
the  Grk.).  Brings  on  him  is  lit.  calls  for.  The  fool's  thoughtless 
or  malicious  words  involve  him  in  disputes  (legal  or  other),  which, 
since  he  is  in  the  wrong,  entail  punishment.  —  7.  Identical,  bi- 
nary-ternary. Cf.  \2^'^  \f  \f^.  The  thought  is  the  same  as  in 
the  preceding  couplet.  Ruiji  is  to  be  taken  as  =  "  grievous  ca- 
lamity, crushing  misfortune."  The  Heb.  is  lit.  a  snare  to  his 
perso7i  (lit.  soul),—  to  himself  —  8.  Comparison  explained,  ter- 
nary. The  couplet  occurs  again  at  26^^;  cf  16-^  26^".  The  slan- 
derer is  one  who  whispers  mahcious  gossip,  which,  says  the 
proverb,  is  received  by  the  hearers  as  eagerly  as  choice  morsels 
of  food,  and,  like  them,  pass  into  men's  being,  and  so  affect  their 
thought  and  action.  On  other  translations  of  the  word  here  ren- 
dered dainty  morsels  (such  as  sJ>ort  or  mockery,  blows  [AV. 
wounds']  burning,  tormenting,  simple,  reserved,  soft)  see  critical 
note  below.      The  text  does  not  express  an  antithesis  in  the  two 


XVIII.  6-9  359 

lines  :  the  words  are  soft  (or,  reserved),  nevertheless  they  penetrate 
(lit.  go  dowfi)  ;  it  is  the  quality  of  sweetness  in  the  words  that 
makes  them  acceptable.  The  Heb.  has  lit.  in  second  cl.  go  down 
into  the  inner  chambers  of  the  belly,  in  accordance  with  the  men- 
tion of  food  in  first  cl. ;  the  expression  the  recesses  of  a  man  is 
more  appropriate  to  the  acceptance  of  gossip.  On  in>ier  cham- 
bers (here  =  interior)  see  note  on  y^  The  proverb  simply  states 
a  fact  —  men's  readiness  to  listen  to  malicious  talk  —  without  com- 
ment.    For  the  concluding  phrase  cf.  20^'\ 

9.   Sloth  is  destructive. 

He  who  is  slack  in  his  work 
Is  brother  to  him  who  destroys. 

Single  sentence,  binary-ternary.  Against  indolence  and  careless- 
ness. The  primary  reference  in  7vork  is  probably  to  the  ordinary 
bread-winning  occupations  of  life,  but  the  term  may  include  all 
affairs,  of  friendship,  statesmanship,  etc.  The  slothful  or  indolent 
man,  the  proverb  declares,  ruins  things  as  effectually  as  the  spend- 
thrift or  traitor  or  any  one  who  sets  himself  to  destroy.  Indo- 
lence, as  an  offence  against  physical  well-being,  is  specially 
denounced  in  Proverbs;  so  in  6^"  lo^  12"^  15^'-'  20^- ^'^  21-^  24^"'^* 
2513-16  ^(,f  gg_  22^-40-'^°).  Brother  =  "one  of  similar  nature" 
(so  companioti  in  28-'*).  Hi/n  who  destroys  is  lit.  a  possessor 
(=  a  dealer)  of  destruction ;  the  reference  is  not  to  robbers  and 
murderers,  but  simply  to  those  who  bring  ruin  on  their  own 
affairs  and  those  of  others.  Rashi  explains  the  expression  as 
referring  to  Satan. 

6.  1^  Qal  1N3-;  (52C  Hif.  in^-,  unnecessary.  —  pj  nic';'-ip'^;  (5  r6  dpaav 
edvarov;  the  last  word  seems  to  represent  the  three  last  letters  of  pj  (Jag.), 
the  rest  is  doubtful :  Jag.  suggests  that  (5  out  of  nn'^  made  nr:n  (comparing 
gi'*  20I),  Baum.  suggests  ^rJr\n  (9>3  -ywr)  .  .  .  dpadela),  and  Levy  {Ckald. 
IV'ori.,  s.v.  iiT\-\:^)  -\r\-o'^  (out  of  'rno'?) ;  the  reading  7\'cnr^  is  the  most  probable. 
—  8.  On  jnj  see  note  on  i628.  —  |^  acnS-ip  (found  only  here  and  in  the 
duplicate  couplet  26--)  has  been  variously  explained:  I.  (f  (in  26'-^)  tJ.aKa.Kol 
(which  elsewhere  in  (5  =  l^) ;  cf.  ^'^n  2^-'^  flatlering  (so  Kimhi,  Geier),  and 
Arab,  rcn^  soft  (Ew.  compares  c:,-j),  or  (Frank.)  Aram,  ri^n  sweet ;  possibly 
S  (26^2)  iv  irapepyu)  subordinate,  incidental  is  here  to  be  included,  in  the 
sense  oi  feigned,  but  see  below  under  spo)-l.  2.  Whisper,  tnurmiir  (=  t'r\'^); 
'A    (26-2)  yoTjTiKoi  jugglers;    Ew.  suggests  comparison  with  Aram.  3>'n  as 


360  PROVERBS 

possible,  =  murmur,  as  expressing  either  the  transient  or  the  insinuating 
character  of  words.  3.  ®  pxi  disturb,  vex  (and  so  substantially  S),  as  =  aSn 
strike ;  so  Immanuel  (in  Reuchlin),  Rashi  zvounds  (of.  zn'^,  Heb.  and  Arab.) 
or  (252^)  combatants,  Luther,  AV.  (see  text  and  margin),  Levi,  Vatablus  those 
who  feign  themselves  luounded.  Similar  is  3^  \T\  (26'^-)  strike  doivii,  perh.  scribal 
variation  of  p>ST  (cf.  Levy).  4.  S  in  ^^  I"''Dr,  =  aKipaioi.  (Middeldorpf  fi/ca- 
Koi),  IL  simplicia,  9  (26'-'^)  i^aTr\otjfji€i>OL,  perh.  free  rendering  of  (3,  perh.  error 
of  text.  5.  Sport,  play,  taking  ^n'?  as  =  nn'^;  so  Saad.  Mich.  Zock.  6.  Hidden 
(Aben  Ezra) ,  perh.  with  reference  to  Arab,  ^rh,  IV,  or  connected  with  whisper. 
7.  Burning  (Ew.)  =  destructive  (like  poison),  taking  sn'?  as  =  ^n'?.  —  The 
comparison  with  Arab,  en'?  swallow  with  avidity  seems  to  be  the  most  satisfac- 
tory, though  the  rendering  s%veet  morsels  is  possible.  —  (5  omits  the  couplet, 
substituting  igi^^,  but  with  changes  (Jag.  Lag.).  —  9.  "^  cj,  with  reference  to 
other  classes  of  persons  who  are  destructive.  Originally  it  may  have  pointed 
to  an  immediately  preceding  statement;  in  the  present  connection  it  is  with- 
out significance. 

10, 11.  God  and  wealth  as  fortresses. 

10.    The  name  of  Yahweh  is  a  strong  fortress. 
To  which  the  righteous  runs  and  is  safe. 

n.    A  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city, 
It  is  like  a  high  wall  in  his  estimation. 

10.  Single  sentence,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  The  expres- 
sion name  of  Yahweh,  common  elsewhere  in  OT.  (except  in  Ju. 
Ru.  Ezr.  Esth.  Job  [discourses]  Eccl.  Cant.),  is  found  in  Pr.  only 
here  (a  similar  expression  in  30").  The  name^=\kvt.  person, 
because  it  expressed  his  nature  and  quaUties  (as  early  names  com- 
monly did),  and  because  in  very  ancient  times  the  name  was  re- 
garded (perhaps  in  consequence  of  its  significance)  as  having  an 
objective  existence  and  as  identical  with  its  possessor,*  and  the 
locution  which  thence  arose  survived  in  later  times  when  the  old 
crude  conception  had  vanished.  Every  people  came  to  associate 
with  the  name  of  its  god  all  that  it  attributed  to  the  god.  The 
name  Yahweh  was  significant  to  the  Jews  at  this  time  not  because 
it  was  a  "  tetragrammaton  "  or  had  in  it  any  mysterious  meaning, 
but  because,  as  the  proper  name  of  the  national  deity,  it  repre- 
sented for  them  all  ideas  of  divine  guidance  and  protection.  On 
the  period  of  the  history  during  which  the  name  was  commonly 
employed  see  note  on  i'.     The  superstitious  notions  which  were 

*  See  Spencer,  Social.,  I.  263;    Jevons,  Iiitrod.  to  Hist,  of  Rel.,  pp.  245,  361; 
Brinton,  Rel.  of  Pritn.  Peoples,  pp.  92  f. 


xviii.  10-13  361 

later  attached  to  the  "  tetragrammaton  "  are  unknown  to  the  OT.* 
Cf.  Ex,  3".  —  Is  safe,  Ht.  is  set  on  high  or  /;/  a  high  place,  where 
he  is  safe  from  the  attacks  of  enemies.  The  proverb  affirms  gen- 
erally that  God  protects  the  righteous ;  it  says  nothing  of  the 
means  employed.  Cf.  i/^  27^  —  11.  Parallel  comparisons,  quater- 
nary-ternary. Estimation,  lit.  picture,  then,  apparently,  itnagina- 
iion,  thought;  cf.  \p  73^,  and  note  on  Pr.  25".  A  better 
parallelism  is  given  by  reading  :  and  like  a  high  wall  is  his  riches. 
The  Heb.  appears  to  say  that  wealth  is  a  protection  not  really, 
but  only  in  the  opinion  of  its  possessor ;  this  is  possibly  the  cor- 
rection of  an  editor  who  took  offence  at  the  role  ascribed  to 
wealth.  Whichever  reading  be  adopted,  the  couplet  simply  states 
a  fact ;  it  is  doubtful  whether  praise  or  blame  is  implied ;  cf.  10^^, 
in  which  our  first  cl.  occurs.  Wealth  is  regarded  in  Pr.  sometimes 
as  a  desirable  source  of  power,  sometimes  as  associated  with  im- 
moral and  irrehgious  pride.  —  From  the  collocation  of  v.^°  ^'  it 
might  be  surmised  that  the  former  is  a  correction  of  the  latter,  or 
a  protest  against  it.  Such  protest  may  have  been  added  or  inserted 
by  an  editor ;  v."  stood  originally,  no  doubt,  as  a  simple  record  of 
observation. 

12,  13.   Danger  of  pride  and  hasty  speech. 

12.  Pride  goes  before  destruction, 
And  before  honor  humility. 

13.  He  who  answers  before  he  hears, 
It  is  folly  and  shame  to  him. 

12.  Antithetic,  ternary-binary.  Lit.,  in  first  cl.,  before  destructiofi 
a  man  (lit.  a  man's  heart)  is  haughty ;  see  16^^.  The  second  cl. 
occurs  in  15^.  — 13.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Hears  =  "  gwes 
attention  to  "  ;  sha?ne  =  "  disgrace."     Cf.  BS.  11*,  Firh.  Al>.  5,  7. 

14,  15.   Value  of  courage  and  wisdom. 

14.  The  spirit  of  a  man  sustains  misfortune. 
But  a  broken  spirit  who  can  bear? 

15.  The  mind  of  the  intelligent  acquires  knowledge, 
The  ear  of  the  wise  seeks  after  knowledge. 

*  See  Buxt.  Lex.  s.  v.  uho  and  •j-\iod  Dr.  In  Lev.  24"- 16  "  the  Name  "  should 
be  read  "  the  name  of  Yahweh  " ;  the  "  Yahweh  "  was  omitted  causa  reverentiae  by 
lale  scribes. 


362  PROVERBS 

14.  Implicit  antithesis,  ternary,  =  "  an  unimpaired  spirit  is  strong, 
a  broken  spirit  is  weak."  Frankenberg,  in  first  cl.,  not  so  well  : 
He  who  soothes  a  man  sustains  (  =  controls)  his  anger.  Spirit  is 
the  inner  being  thought  of  as  the  seat  of  vigor  and  courage  (as  in 
Eng.  spirited)  ;  broken  =  stricken,  crushed.  Sustain  and  bear  are 
here  synonyms;  the  rendering  raise  up  (RV.  marg.),  instead  of 
bear  {=  endure),  is  here  improbable.  Misfortune  is  Ht.  sickness 
(RV.  infirmity),  here  used  of  any  suffering.  The  proverb  records 
a  fact  of  human  experience,  the  sense  being  :  when  the  spirit, 
which  is  the  source  of  strength,  is  itself  crushed,  what  help  is 
there?  (for  the  rhetorical  form  cf.  Mk.  9^"),  and  the  implied  ex- 
hortation is  :  be  brave,  do  not  succumb  to  trouble.  There  is  no 
reference  or  allusion  to  divine  aid.  There  is  here  a  near  approach 
to  the  Greek  conception  of  "  courage  "  as  a  virtue,  a  conception 
hardly  elsewhere  formulated  in  OT.  — 15.  Identical  parallelism, 
ternary.  The  first  cl.,  with  variation  of  verb,  occurs  in  15",  in 
which  the  second  cl.  introduces  the  fool  as  contrast.  —  Intelligent 
(see  note  on  1^)  and  wise  are  synonyms,  and  so  acquires  and 
seeks  after.  The  word  ear  points  to  oral  instruction.  A  progres- 
sion of  thought,  such  a.i :  "  the  intelligent  (the  higher  grade  of 
mind)  already  possesses  knowledge,  the  wise  (the  inferior  grade) 
is  only  seeking  it,"  is  improbable.  No  such  distinction  exists  in 
Pr.  between  intelligent  and  wise. 

16-18.  Legal  and  other  contests. 

16.  A  man's  gift  makes  room  for  him, 
And  brings  him  before  great  men. 

1 7.  The  first  comer  is  right  in  his  plea, 
Then  comes  the  other  and  tests  him. 

18.  The  lot  puts  an  end  to  disputes, 
And  decides  between  the  mighty. 

16.  Synonymous  parallelism,  ternary.  The  gift  is  not  intellectual 
endowment,*  a  sense  foreign  to  the  Heb.  term,  nor  the  bounty 
which  a  liberal  man  benevolently  dispenses  (19"),  thereby  gaining 
friends,!  nor  precisely  a  bribe,  but  probably,  as  second  cl.  appears 
to  indicate,  a  present  made  to  great  and  powerful  men,  whereby 
they  become  well  disposed  to  the  giver,  afford  him  protection  and 

*  Hitzig.  t  De.  Str.  at. 


XVIII.   14-19  363 

aid,  and  he  thus  has  i-oom,  a  free  field,  access  (as  in  second  line) 
to  the  presence  of  the  patron.  Cf.  17**.  The  custom  of  making 
such  presents  to  the  great,  common  in  Israel  and  elsewhere,  was 
notably  prevalent  in  the  Greek  period  of  Jewish  history ;  see,  for 
ex.,  the  stories  of  Joseph,  Hyrcanus,  and  Herod  in  Jos.  Ant.  12, 
4,  2.  9  ;  14,  12,  2.  — 17.  Single  sentence,  with  implied  antithesis, 
ternary-binary.  First  comer,  he  who  first  presents  his  cause 
before  the  judge,  and  is  naturally  able  to  make  out  a  good  case ; 
is  right,  that  is,  in  appearance  ;  plea,  lit.  latvsuit  (RV.  cause)  ; 
the  other,  lit.  his  neighbor,  the  other  party  to  the  suit ;  tests  him, 
lit.  searches  him,  examines  his  argument,  and  presents  the  other 
side.  The  first  cl.  may  be  translated  he  who  is  first  in  his  plea 
{^■N .  pleadeth  his  cause  first)  is  right*;  the  sense  remains  the 
same.  —  In  Pirk.  Ab.  i,  8  it  is  said  that  the  judge,  so  long  as  the 
parties  are  in  his  presence,  must  regard  both  as  guilty,  that  is, 
must  distrust  both.  —  The  proverb  =  audi  alteram  partem.  — 
18.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  On  the  employment  of  the  lot 
among  the  Israelites  see  note  on  16'^''.  In  this  case  the  contend- 
ing parties,  instead  of  going  into  court,  agree  to  refer  their  dis- 
pute not  to  an  arbitrator,  who  would  weigh  the  arguments  and 
decide  like  a  judge,  but  to  God,  who  was  supposed  to  order  the 
drawing  or  casting  of  the  lots  in  accordance  with  justice  ;  this 
divine  decision,  if  accepted  in  good  faith,  would  at  once  stop  con- 
tention, even  when  the  contestants  were  powerful.  The  questions 
in  which  the  lot  was  resorted  to  in  the  later  time  were,  it  is  proba- 
ble, chiefly  or  wholly  such  as  concerned  property  rights  of  private 
persons  —  political  disputes  would  commonly  be  otherwise  settled. 
Decides  is  lit.  separates,  that  is,  parts  the  contestants,  so  that  the 
dispute  ceases. 

19.  It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  construe  the  Heb.  text. 
Lit.  :  a  brother  sinned  against  (?)  than  a  strong  city,  and  disputes 
are  like  the  bar  of  a  fortress.  The  translations  sinned  against 
{treated perfidiously,  iiijured,  offended ^^  and  who  resists,  sets  him- 
self in  opposition  J  are  grammatically  doubtful.  The  insertions 
harder,  stronger,  harder  to  be  won,  etc.,  before  the  comparative 
sign  than,  are  unwarranted ;   it  would  be  necessary,  if  the  preced- 

*  So  De.  Reuss,  al.  t  Rashi,  RV.  al.  I  Ew.  Zock.  al. 


364  PROVERBS 

ing  word  should  be  retained,  to  change  than  to  like  (see  second 
Hne).  But  even  then  the  comparison  of  an  injured  friend  and  of 
disputes  to  a  fortified  city  or  a  fortress  is  strange  and  improbable. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  the  couplet  is  a  variant  of  v."  of  this 
chapter  (cf.  lo^''),  and  should  read:  the  rich  man's  wealth  is  a 
strong  city,  and  his  riches  is  like  the  bars  of  a  fortress.  —  Grk. :  a 
brother  helped  by  a  brother  is  like  a  strong  and  lofty  city,  and  is  as 
strong  as  a  wellfounded  palace.  This  is  better  than  the  Heb., 
but  is  still  unsatisfactory  —  there  is  no  reason  why  a  brother 
helped  by  a  brother  should  be  thus  singled  out.  —  For  the  bars  of 
cities  and  fortresses  see  Ju.  16^  i  K.  4^'  Isa.  45-  Neh.  3^,  and  cf. 
Nowack,  Arch.  i.  142,  368  ff. 

10.  (§  kK  fieyaXua-ijvrjs,  —  V^'jq  (Jag.).  — 11.  |!J  P3t:'c  (cf.  25")  apparently 
=  "something  graved  or  fashioned";  the  meaning  of  the  stem  is  uncertain. 
Frank,  suggests  Vi^oi  or  vddj,  which  is,  perhaps,  to  be  adopted.  — 12.  |^  Z'H 
need  not  be  omitted  in  the  interests  of  the  rhythm,  since  u^k  a';'  may  be 
pronounced  as  one  word.  — 14.  ^  r'!^!!]-;  <§  ^epdTrco;' 0p6viyuos,  according  to 
Jag.,  =  n-inn  (cf.  19^)  one  who  carefully  attends  to  hi»i  (see  Lag.'s  note), 
which  Frank,  adopts,  rendering  :  tver  ilin  schmeichelnd  besanftigt,  and  taking 
n"i  as  =  anger,  but  the  resulting  line  does  not  offer  a  good  antithesis  to  second 
line.  —  1^  HN'pj  n^;  %,  spirituin  ad  irascendwn  facilem.  —  17.  K  NJ'';  Q  N3\ 
Either  reading  gives  a  good  sense,  but  a  connective  is  natural,  and  we  should 
perh.  write  njm;  a  1  may  have  fallen  out  by  reason  of  precedmg  1.  —  (§  eauToO 
KaT^7opos,  =  iann  (i  Sam.  2^')  or  13-1  (Isa.  45^).  — 18.  pj  Si'jn;  (gABx  o-£7tj- 
p6s  (=  (7t7ijX6s)  a  silent  man;  better  /cX^pos,  as  in  (g -^c.  a.  marg.  ^H  ^/_  — 
|§  nnxv;  Gr.  suggests  N^i  ot  z'i'^  coiiles/an/s.  — 19.  pj  j-c'di  ns;  (g  (followed 
by  5i2r3L)  d5eX06s  virb  adeXcpov  ^o7]dovfx.€vos,  =  >rj  ns',  improbable  in  the  con- 
nection. The  isolated  >»w'OJ  is  suspicious;  the  Nif.  occurs  only  here,  and  the 
Qal  is  always  followed  by  n  or  ^j,';  De.  compares  •'rp  =  ■''?y  arp,  but  to  this  it 
may  be  replied  that  the  two  forms  are  different  (Frank.)  — in  the  case  of  an 
Act.  Partcp.  the  construction  is  possible,  but  not  in  the  case  of  Pass.  Partcp. 
See  note  on  this  v.  above.  — 1§  vj  ni"i|'5r,  though  syntactically  possible,  is  hard; 
the  substitution  of  3  for  d  is  favored  by  ^  and  by  (SSSTiL.  —  On  K  ajnn, 
Q  amn  see  critical  note  on  6'*.  —  pj  jbix  m^-;  (§,  inverting  order,  ucrirep 
redeixeXioifi^vov  ^acriXewv  as  a  firtnly  founded  palace ;  for  t.  (AB.s"  a/.)  Lag. 
would  read  nefioxXevixivov  (S^  ^//)  barred. 

20,  21,   Power  of  the  tongue. 

20.  From  the  fruit  of  the  mouth  comes  requital  to  men, 
The  outcome  of  the  lips  they  must  bear. 

21.  Death  and  life  are  in  the  power  of  the  tongue, 
They  who  use  it  must  eat  its  fruit. 


XVIII.  19-22  365 

20.  Synonymous,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  The  thought  1; 
is  that  of  12"  13"  ^  on  which  see  notes  —  a  man  must  take  the 
consequences  of  his  words,  which  are  here  regarded  as  expressing  . 
his  thought  and  nature.  Xa'i.  from  the  fruit  of  a  man's  mouth  his 
belly  is  filled,  the  outcome  (or,  product^  of  his  lips  fids  Jeim.  Fill 
and  belly  belong  to  the  figure  employetl  (eating)  — words  are 
spoken  of  as  something  that  a  man  feeds  on,  they,  by  their  conse- 
quences, determine  his  position  and  fate,  they  bring  requital,  for  '^ 
good  or  for  evil  according  to  their  character.  On  outcotne 
(^  =  produce,  product)  see  notes  on  3^".  —  21.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. See  13^  Good  and  bad  speech  are  contrasted  by  their 
results.  The  death  and  life  are  physical ;  see  notes  on  3-  ^'^. 
Are  in  the  power  of  ==\^'  axQ  at  the  disposition  of,  are  dealt  out  by."  ; 
Caution  in  speech  is  suggested,  since  words  may  bring  the  great- 
est misfortune  (the  termination  of  earthly  life)  or  the  greatest 
good  fortune  (a  long  and  prosperous  life).  —  In  second  cl.  the 
Heb.  reads  lit.  they  who  love  it  (the  tongue),  which,  in  the  con- 
nection, can  mean  only  they  who  are  fond  of  using  it,  but  the  verb 
is  not  natural,  and  the  text  is  perhaps  wrong.  Grk.  they  ivho  con- 
trol it  does  not  agree  with  the  general  form  of  the  predicate  of 
second  cl.,  or  with  the  thought  of  first  cl. ;  the  predicate  to  such 
a  subject  should  be  itnll  enjoy  good.  The  suggestions  of  De.,  that 
the  //  may  refer  to  wisdom,  or  should  be  read  Yahweh,  are  out  of 
the  question.      Cf.  BS.  2>f^. 

22-24.   Wife,  wealth,  friend. 

22.  If  one  finds  a  wife,  it  is  a  piece  of  good  fortune, 
A  favor  bestowed  on  him  by  Yahweh. 

23.  The  poor  man  uses  entreaties, 
The  rich  man  answers  roughly. 

24.  There  are  friends  who  only  seek  society. 

And  there  is  a  friend  who  sticks  closer  than  a  brother. 

22.  Synonymous,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Lit.  he  who 
finds  a  ivife  (that  is,  a  good  wife)  finds  good,  and  obtains  favor 
from  Yahweh,  that  is,  he  finds  not  a  good  thing  (RV.),  but  good 
fortune,  which,  says  second  cl.,  he  must  regard  as  a  special  favor 
from  God,  who  bestows  all  good  fortune  (not  "  he  may,  in  conse- 
quence, expect   favor  from   God").      Reuss :    may  congratulate 


366  PROVERBS 

himself,  it  is  a  favor  from  God.  On  the  sentiment  and  on  the 
meaning  of  good  (=  capable)  as  used  of  a  wife  see  12^  19"  2,^^^^^ 
BS.  7"  25*  2e-^-^^-^^-^^-^  40^  (read  prude^it  wife)  ;  cf.  5^**  Gen.  2^^ 
Eccl.  9^  (for  another  view  see  Eccl.  7-*).  Rashi :  "he  who  finds 
the  law"  ;  Saadia  sees  in  the  wife  an  allusion  to  Eve.  —  Cf.  8^,  in 
which  our  second  cl.  occurs,  the  reference  there  being  to  the  find- 
ing of  wisdom.  Numerous  similar  sayings  are  cited  by  Malan.  — 
The  Grk.  adds  :  "  he  who  puts  away  a  good  wife  puts  away  good, 
and  he  who  retains  an  adulteress  is  foolish  and  ungodly,"  a  scribal 
addition  intended  to  bring  the  thought  of  the  couplet  out  more 
fully.  —  23.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  The  social 
eminence  and  the  rudeness  of  manner  which  sometimes  accom- 
pany wealth,  and  the  social  dependence  and  humble  bearing  of 
the  poor  man  —  put  by  the  proverb  as  a  general  rule ;  this  may 
be  taken  as  a  testimony  to  the  manners  of  the  time  (probably  the 
Greek  period)  ;  cf.  22"  BS.  13''.  —  24.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Heb., 
first  line  :  A  i7ian  of  friends  is  to  be  broken  \_—  crushed,  ruined\ 
that  is,  his  nominal  friends,  so  far  from  helping  him,  will  only  use 
him  for  their  own  purposes.  This  interpretation  *  is  exaggerated 
in  its  statement,  does  not  offer  a  satisfactory  antithesis  to  the 
second  line,  does  not  follow  the  best  Heb.  text,  and  is  in  part  a 
doubtful  translation.  The  expression  man  of  friends,  with  the 
sense  "  he  who  possesses  (or,  makes)  many  friends  "  is  not  quite 
in  accordance  with  OT.  usage,  in  which  the  defining  noun  after 
man  states  a  personal  quality  or  a  characteristic  occupation  (see 
3^  10-^  12^  19^-  29*  Isa.  53^^  \\j  41"'^"*)  ;  thus  in  Gen.  46''*  the  Jtieii 
of  the  flock  means  precisely  not  "  men  owning  flocks,"  but  "raeft 
whose  business  is  the  tending  of  flocks."  Apart  from  this  the 
parallelism  (supported  by  a  Jewish  tradition)  favors  the  reading 
there  are  instead  of  man  (the  difference  between  the  two  is  that 
of  a  vowel),  and  first  line  might  be  rendered:  there  are  friends 
for  being  crushed,  that  is,  who  only  bring  ruin.  But,  since  the 
second  line  speaks  of  a  steady,  reliable  friend,  we  expect  in  first 
line  a  reference  to  superficial,  untrustworthy  (rather  than  to  hurt- 
ful) friends  ;  this  reference  is  gained  by  giving  to  the  verb  the 
sense  of  "  friendly  association,"  a  sense  which  is  found  in  several 

*  Adopted  by  Schultens,  De.  RV.,  and  the  majority  of  modern  expositors. 


XVIII.  22-24  l^-j 

Anc.  Vrss.,*  and  is  adopted  by  Luther,  Mercer,  Geier,  AV.  The 
verbal  form  (the  Prep,  to  +  Infin.  in  the  Heb.)  must  be  under- 
stood to  express  the  purpose  and  function  of  the  friends :  they 
seek  only  society,  and  are  found  wanting  in  time  of  stress,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  are  friends  who  stand  by  a  man  in  his 
darkest  days,  and  are  more  to  be  relied  on  than  the  nearest  blood- 
kinsman.  Friends,  says  the  sage,  are  of  two  sorts  :  some  are  fair- 
weather  comrades,  but  some  are  stout  and  faithful  helpers.  —  The 
terms  ///ends  (first  line)  and/n'end  (Ut.  /(?7'er,  second  line)  are  in 
themselves  synonyms  —  the  difference  between  them  here  in- 
tended is  suggested  by  the  context.  The  second  line  has  some- 
times been  understood  to  refer  to  the  Messiah.  Cf.  BS.  6*"^^ 
(especially  v.^")   37*  ^ 

20.  Bi.  omits  the  Prep,  in  i-isrr,  making  the  noun  the  subject  of  the  verb  — 
possible,  but  unnecessary. — The  reading  2'j  t:\s',  suggested  by  Gr.  (who  refers 
to  12^*)  is  here  inappropriate. — 21.  ^  st.  anx;  (g  KparovvTes,  from  thn, 
which  affords  no  good  sense;  all  other  ancient  authorities  and  most  moderns 
follow  1^,  which  can  hardly  be  original.  No  good  emendation  has  been  sug- 
gested; neither  13;'  (//lose  who  are  sid'ject  to  it)  nor  ~\'ct'  {those  zvho  give  heed 
to  it)  (Gr.)  is  satisfactory.  Rashi :  "he  who  loves  his  tongue  and  exercises 
himself  in  the  law."  Saadia:  "according  as  he  loves  one  or  the  other" 
(death  or  life).  —  22.  The  insertion  of  na'j  after  nu'N  (©SiSriL)  is  natural,  but 
unnecessary  (cf.  Eccl.  7-*^).  —  On  the  couplet  added  in  ©  (and  in  SiL)  see 
note  on  this  proverb  above;  *  follows  closely  the  norm  of  lij",  and  *>  is  the 
natural  antithesis.  — 23.  Lacking  in  (S^^^""',  given  in  S^^  and  H-P  23.  103.  al.; 
see  notes  of  H-P,  Field,  Lag.  —  24.  |§  -^-pr^ri,  not  from  >'■>  (Gr.  Ven.),  or  j?-\ 
bad  (Zock.  al.),  but  from  yi  break.  Read  nj,n.-i.-i,  from  n;-i  (so  ^WL®-^). — 
|§  Z'H  is  read  r;  by  2C  Hitz.  Lowenstein,  Frank,  al.,  and  is,  from  the  parallel- 
ism, to  be  adopted.  Baer  (in  App.  Crit.  to  the  B-D  ed.  of  Prov.)  observes 
(from  the  Masora)  that  this  is  one  of  the  three  occurrences  of  w"s,  in  which 
tt"  is  to  be  expected,  the  others  being  2  Sam.  \d}^  Mic.  6I'';  see  Knnhi,  Libr. 
Had.,  s.v.  ti'^'N.  —  The  couplet,  like  the  preceding,  is  wanting  in  (@'^«'-,  found 
in  H-P  23  al.;  yyinnS  is  rendered  by  rov  eraipevcraffdai.,  cf.  IL  ad  societatem. 
5i"  a  man  loves  himself  in  order  that  he  may  be  loved,  either  a  free  rendering 
of  <S,  or  a  corrupt  Syr.  text.  The  construction  of  ]|J  is  periphrastic  future, 
=  -nn'?  n>n,  is  going  to  be  (or,  is  to  be)  mined.  In  the  emended  text  "?  -|-  Inf. 
expresses  purpose.     Cf.  critical  note  on  19^. 

*  Targ.  Lat.  and  some  Grk. 


368  PROVERBS 

XIX.  1-4.   Poverty,  wealth,  folly. 

1.  Better  is  a  poor  man,  upright  in  life, 

Than  he  who  is  false  in  speech,  even  though  he  be  ( rich.' 

2.  To  act  without  reflection  is  not  good. 

He  who  is  hasty  in  action  fails  of  his  aim. 

3.  A  man's  folly  ruins  his  affairs. 
And  then  he  is  angry  with  God. 

4.  Wealth  adds  many  friends, 

But  the  poor  man  —  his  (one)  friend  withdraws. 

1.  Comparison,  antithetic,  ternary.  In  first  cl.,  lit.  who  walks  in 
his  uprightness  {or,  perfectness).  Speech  is  lit.  lips  ;  on  false  (RV. 
perverse^  see  note  on  2^'".  Instead  of  rich  the  Heb.  has  a  fool. 
The  couplet  occurs  again  at  28'^,  with  rich  instead  o{  fool,  a  read- 
ing here  required  both  by  the  parallelism  of  the  clauses  {poor 
.  .  .  rich)  and  by  the  obviously  intended  antithesis  in  second  cl.  : 
the  though  he  be  (lit.  and  he  is)  naturally  introduces  something 
which  might  appear  to  oppose  the  better,  but  fool  could  only 
strengthen  the  comparison.  Ewald  thinks  that  rich  was  the  orig- 
inal reading,  but  retains  fool  on  the  ground  that  this  expression 
{—haughty)  is  a  synonym  of  rich*;  but  this  is  obviously  not 
true  in  Pr.  —  the  poor  may  be  upright,  but  he  is  never  identical 
with  the  religiously  humble  ;  and  the  rich,  though  he  may  be  arro- 
gant,  is  always  the  man  of  physical  wealth.  —  2.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Against  heedlessness.  The  Heb.  begins  with  the  word 
also,  which  is  significant  here  only  in  case  it  is  intended  to  add 
heedlessness  to  falsity  (v.^)  as  a  thing  not  good,  and  this  is  hardly 
probable. — The  first  half  of  first  cl.  is  defective,  lit.  without 
knowledge  of  soul,  that  is,  "  in  the  soul,"  =  without  reflection,  as 
appears  from  the  parallel  haste  of  second  cl. ;  the  verb,  act  or  be, 
must  be  supplied,  and  soul  should  perhaps  be  omitted.  The  Heb. 
word  for  soul  may  also  mean  self  or  desire,  but  the  renderings  to 
be  without  self-knowledge  (Ew.)  and  desire  without  reflection 
(Hitz.)  are  not  in  accordance  with  the  usage  of  the  Book.  The 
translation  that  the  soul  be  without  knowledge  (RV.)  is  grammati- 
cally untenable.  So,  also,  the  interpretation  :  when  one  pays  no 
regard  to  his  desires  (that  is,  denies  himself  all  pleasures,  in  order 

*  So  Zock.  De.  Novvack  al.     The  reading  rich  is  adopted  by  Gratz  and  Kamp- 
hausen. 


XIX.  1-6  3^9 

to  save  money),  that  is  not  good,  is  hardly  to  be  obtained  from 
the  Heb.,  and  is  not  a  probable  reflection  for  Pr.  The  last  ex- 
pression of  first  cl.  means  "  not  a  good  (or,  sensible,  useful,  help- 
ful) thing,"  nearly  =  unsuccessful ;  Reuss's  blind  eagerness  can 
only  be  hurtful,  and  Wildeboer's  where  there  is  no  knowledge  (or, 
reflection),  there  also  (even)  eagerness  is  not  good  are  grammati- 
cally doubtful.  —  In  second  cl.  is  hasty  in  action  is  lit.  hastes 
with  his  feet.  —  If  the  proverb  be  taken  in  connection  with  the 
preceding,  it  must  be  interpreted  as  directed  particularly  against 
heedless  pursuit  of  wealth ;  but  it  seems  better  to  understand  it 
as  a  condemnation  of  thoughtless  eagerness  and  hastiness  in  gen- 
eral. Fails  of  his  aim  =^  misses  the  mark  (see  8"'''  Job  S"'*), — 
3.  Continued  thought,  quaternary-ternary.  Ruins  =  overturns 
(RV.  subvertetli)  ;  affairs  is  lit.  7vay ;  God,  lit.  Yahweh.  For 
the  thought  cf.  BS.  15"'"°  Soph.  Oed.  Col.  1693  ff.,  and  other  par- 
allels in  Malan.  —  The  couplet  is  a  criticism  of  the  allegation  that 
failure  is  the  work  of  God  ;  the  reply  is  that  the  fault  is  with  men 
themselves  —  a  practical  way  of  dealing  with  a  much-debated 
question  characteristic  of  Pr.,  and  standing  in  marked  contrast 
with  the  lines  of  thought  of  Job  and  Ecclesiastes. — 4.  Antithetic, 
quaternary-ternary.  Cf.  v.'^  and  14-".  The  second  cl.  may  also 
be  rendered  :  the  poor  is  separated  from  his  friend  (so  RV).  On 
the  terms  wealth  and  poor  see  notes  on  i^'^  io^'\ 

5-7.  Perjury,  liberality,  poverty. 

5.  A  false  witness  will  not  go  unpunished, 
He  who  utters  lies  will  not  escape. 

6.  Many  seek  the  favor  of  the  liberal  man, 
All  are  friends  to  him  who  gives. 

7.  All  the  poor  man's  brethren  hate  him  — 
How  much  more  do  his  friends  stand  aloof! 

5.  Identical  in  thought,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  For  the 
expressions  see  6^^  14^-^  and  v.^  below,  of  which  this  couplet  is  a 
doublet,  and  here  not  in  place  ;  the  reference  is  to  legal  proceed- 
ings, and  the  certainty  of  punishment  is  affirmed  as  a  general  rule 
—  a  testimony  to  the  justice  of  the  courts  of  law  of  the  time. — 

6.  Identical  in  sense,  with  increment  of  expression,  ternary.    The 

2B 


370  PROVERBS 

indefinite  7nany  is  heightened  into  the  definite  ail,  and  thus 
receives  the  suggestion  of  universality.  Seek  the  favor  is  Ht. 
stroke  (or,  smooth)  the  fare  (caressingly)  or  jnake  the  face  soft 
(gentle,  favorable)  ;  see  Job  ii^'  \p  45^^'^^^  i  K.  13^  xp  119^*,  etc. 
The  translation  liberal  (lit.  willing)  is  suggested  by  the  parallel- 
ism, but  the  Heb.  word  {nad'ib)  may  also  be  rendered  potentate 
(Grk.  kings)  or  ?ioble ;  see  notes  on  8^*^  if-"^^.  The  reference  is 
probably  to  the  munificence  of  the  rich  private  man  or  prince 
who  seeks,  by  gifts,  to  attach  men  to  his  person  and  his  cause  — 
such  was  the  method  in  ancient  political  and  social  life.  A  more 
general  reference  to  unselfish  liberality  is  possible,  but  the  prov- 
erb appears  to  contemplate  the  somewhat  corrupt  city  life  of  the 
later  period  of  Judaism.  —  7.  Advance  from  the  less  to  the 
greater,  ternary  (or,  ternary-quaternary,  or,  binary-ternary). 
Hate  is  to  be  understood  literally  —  a  poor  man,  as  likely  to  be 
burdensome,  easily  becomes  an  object  of  detestation ;  brethreti 
—  kinsfolk  in  blood,  and  friends  are  associates,  not  bound  by  the 
tie  of  blood,  whose  friendship  is  superficial  and  untrue.  It  is 
assumed  that  blood-kinsmen  are  under  greater  obligation  than 
friends  to  help. 

At  the  end  of  this  couplet  the  Heb.  has  a  line  which  is  now 
unintelligible,  reading  lit.  he  who  pursues  words,  they  are  not 
(Heb.  marg.  his  they  are),  which  RV.  interprets  as  meaning  he 
[the  poor  man]  pursueth  them  7vith  words,  but  they  are  gone,  a 
sense  which  is  not  contained  in  the  Heb.,  and  is  forced  and  unnat- 
ural in  form  (RV.  marg.  is  correct  except  the  expressions  zvhich 
are  nought  and  he  pursueth).  Lat.  :  he  who  pursues  only  words 
shall  have  7iothing,  which  is  intelligible  (though  not  a  rendering 
of  our  Heb.),  but  the  expression  pursue  words  is  strange.  The 
line  appears  to  be  the  corrupt  remnant  of  a  lost  couplet,  but  it  is 
hardly  possible,  with  our  present  means  of  information,  to  recover 
the  original  form. 

8,  9.   Wisdom  is  profitable,  falseness  is  fatal. 

8.  He  who  acquires  understanding  is  a  friend  to  himself, 
He  who  follows  wisdom  <  will  >  get  good. 

9.  A  false  witness  will  not  escape, 
He  who  utters  lies  will  perish. 


XIX.  6-IO  3/1 

8.  Synonymous,  binary-  (or,  quaternary-)  ternary.  Understand- 
ing, lit.  heart,  —  mind,  intellectual  perception,  with  reference  to 
all  the  affairs  of  life ;  the  same  idea  is  expressed  by  wisdom,  lit. 
"  apprehension,  comprehension,  insight "  (see  note  on  2")  ;  fol- 
lows =  preserves,  pays  due  regard  to;  is  a  friend  to  (or,  loves) 
himself  (lit.  loves  his  soul)  =  "  has  regard  for  his  own  interests  "  ; 
as  predicate  of  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  to  find  (or,  get)  good, 
which  may  be  understood  as  =  "is  going  to  get,"  etc.,  but  a 
simple  change  of  letters  gives  the  better  reading  will  get ;  good 
=  "  what  is  advantageous."  The  sense  is  :  intellectual  insight 
(=  clearness  of  thought,  good  sense)  is  profitable  in  this  life,  the 
moral  as  well  as  the  physical  life  being  probably  included  ;  cf. 
^13-18^  etc.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  The 
couplet  is  a  variation  of  v.^,  with  the  stronger  expression  perish  in 
second  clause. 

10.  Wealth  and  power  befit  only  the  wise  and  the  free. 

Luxury  is  not  a  fitting  thing  for  a  fool, 
Much  less  for  a  slave  is  rule  over  princes. 

Climax,  ternary.  Fitting  =  appropriate  (not  exactly  seemly  or 
becoming);  see  17^  26^  The  proverb  compares  two  things  in 
which  there  is  no  propriety  :  the  value  and  use  of  luxury  are  not 
understood  by  an  obtuse,  uncultivated  man,  rather  it  develops  his 
bad  quaUties,  and  he  becomes  ridiculous  and  disgusting;  and  a 
slave,  with  all  the  vices  of  a  servile  class,  elevated  to  political 
power,  is  likely  to  become  arrogant  and  tyrannical.  Wealth  was 
often  acquired  by  men  morally  and  intellectually  dull,  and  the  pro- 
motion of  slaves  to  places  of  authority  was  not  uncommon  in 
Asiatic  and  African  governments  (Strack  refers  to  the  role  played 
by  eunuchs)  ;  cf.  30^"  Eccl.  10^  BS.  11^.  The  fool  of  first  cl.  may 
be  identical  with  the  slave  of  second  cl.,  but  this  is  not  necessary. 
On  the  other  hand,  slaves  sometimes  proved  excellent  governors  \ 
cf.  17^  14^.  —  On  the  position  of  Heb.  slaves  see  notes  on  11^ 


*  Cf.  Job  41*  [40^^],  from  which,  however,  it  cannot  be  inferred  that  the  relation 
of  a  slave  to  his  master  was  based  on  an  agreement  between  the  two. 


372  PROVERBS 

11.  Forbearance  is  wise. 

It  is  wisdom  in  a  man  to  be  slow  to  anger, 
It  is  his  glory  to  pass  over  transgression. 

Synonymous,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  On  wisdom^ 
=  "sound  sense,"  see  note  on  12'*  (in  3*  the  text  is  incorrect)  ; 
the  couplet  in  the  Heb.  is  Ht.  :  a  mail's  7visdom  defers  his  aiiger, 
and  his  glory  (==  that  on  which  he  may  pride  himself)  is  to  pass, 
etc. ;  the  translation  given  above  is  obtained  by  changing  the 
vowels  of  one  word,  whereby  we  gain  the  exact  parallelism  to  be 
slow  {—to  defer)  .  .  .  to  pass,  corresponding  to  the  other  paral- 
lel expressions  a  mail's  wisdom  .  .  .  his  glory.  The  same 
thought  is  found  in  14"-^,  and  cf.  25^-^^  and  Eccl.  8\  Forgive- 
ness of  errors  and  injuries  is  here  represented  as  a  sensible  thing, 
probably  because  it  promotes  social  peace  and  wellbeing ;  there 
appears  to  be  no  reference  to  divine  reward,  though  there  may  be 
an  implication  of  moral  law.  For  the  expression  pass  over  trans- 
gression cf.  Mic.  7^^. 

12.  A  king's  anger  is  dreadful,  his  favor  refreshing. 

The  wrath  of  a  king  is  like  the  roaring  of  a  lion, 
His  favor  like  dew  on  vegetation. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  The  first  cl.,  with 
change  of  one  word,  occurs  in  20",  on  which  see  note ;  similar 
references  to  royal  power  see  in  16"  28'^  Eccl.  8""^  The  picture 
of  the  king  suits  many  periods  of  history,  but  particularly  the  time 
when  the  Jews  had  special  reason  to  fear  the  caprices  of  foreign 
rulers.  The  word  rendered  by  vegetation  includes  grass,  herbs 
and  cereals. 

XIX.  1.  Wanting  in  (5^'ABC.  ^w  sub  ast.  Compl.  H-P  23.  103.  253  =  ?^.— 
1^  ""D:;  S'  xiv"i>",  IL  dives  (but  adds  et  insipiens  at  end) ;  read  ~\t-;,  which  the 
parallelism  imperatively  demands.  The  insipiens  of  IL  and  the  N^p D  of  some 
MSS.  of  S  are  corrections  after  |^.  —  For  |^  vpsr  <S2C  have  ways,  which  may 
be  free  rendering  of  '^,  or  may  represent  Heb.  vjm  (cf.  Pink.).  —  2.  Lacking 
in  (S  ABC  J  H-P  23  al.  witJiotU  knoivledge  of  the  sotd  there  is  no  good ;  Sb^  to 
be  without  knoivledge  etc.  is  not  good ;  Saad.  Compl.  without  knoivledge  the  soul 
is  not  good ;  SST  he  who  does  not  know  hi?nself,  it  is  not  good  for  him  ;  3L  where 
there  is  no  knowledge  of  the  soul  it  is  not  good ;  Rashi  as  H-P  23  %.  —  3a  xS 
must  be  predicate;   n'?3  -\-  noun  always  qualifies  a  preceding  word  (noun  or 


XIX.  II-I4  373 

verb),  and  cannot  here  qualify  tJ'SJ  ("a  soul  without  knowledge").  The 
Heb.  text  appears  to  be  defective.  Gr.  proposes  to  attach  "  to  the  '^D^  of  v.^, 
change  dj  to  Dj  (cf.  Isa.  21I-),  and  insert  '^  before  N^,  but  the  resulting  sense, 
"  a  fool  flees  without  knowledge  of  soul  to  what  is  not  good,"  is  awkward,  and 
hoD  is  probably  not  original.  The  t:'3j  is  unnecessary  and  strange,  and  looks 
like  a  gloss  on  r<};-\;  if  this  be  omitted,  and  dj  be  changed  to  r^f;  or  rfy  (cf. 
21^)  or  ri'^n,  the  clause  becomes  clear  in  construction  and  meaning.  —  "J'sj  may 
be  a  gloss  on  n>'-i  n'?3  n\n.  —  4.  In  pj  ■^^;;^c  the  d  may  be  Prep.,  or  nominal 
preformative.  —  6.  The  art.  in  •;-\n  is  to  be  omitted;  Bi.  jjn  ri*??.  —  7.  |^  I'l^^D 
is  defectively  written  plu.  —  (@  follows  f^^-  ^  with  change  of  pointing.  — 
Bi.  adopts  the  additional  couplet  of  O  and  renders  it  into  Hebrew. — 
8.  f^  Ni'cS;  read  XSD%  as  apparently  (§<S®iL  (and  so  Dys.),  though  these 
Vrss.  may  merely  give  idiomatic  translations  of  Nsc^ ;  to  take  it  as  abridged 
periphrastic  Future,  =  'c*?  !'\-'n  (De.  Wild.  «/.)  is  allowable,  but  seems  here 
less  natural;  cf.  note  on  y;nnn'^,  iS'^*.  —  9.  See  notes  on  v.^  — 11.  Point 
l-ivsn  as  Inf.  (so  apparently  AGS).     (5  is  corrupt  (see  Jag.  Baumg.). 

13, 14.  Bad  sons,  bad  and  good  wives. 

13.  A  foolish  son  is  ruin  to  his  father. 

The  quarrelling  of  a  wife  is  like  the  continual  dripping  of  a  roof. 

14.  House  and  riches  are  an  inheritance  from  fathers. 
But  a  wise  wife  is  the  gift  of  God. 

13.  Collocation  of  two  similar  things,  ternary.  The  thought  of 
first  cl.  is  found  in  10^  1^21.25  ^^j^^^  ^,f^  ^is  i^gjow),  that  of  second 
cl.  in  2f^.  We  expect,  as  contrast  to  first  cl.,  a  reference  to  the 
wise  son,  or,  as  contrast  to  second  cl.,  a  reference  (as  in  v.")  to 
the  good  wife  ;  the  couplet  is  perhaps  made  up  from  two  others. 
The  noun  dripping  (or,  dropping)  is  found  elsewhere  in  OT.  only 
in  2f-^,  the  verb  drip,  drop  only  in  Job  16-"  \\i  11 9-*  Eccl.  10^®,  all 
late  passages ;  the  term  continual  (lit.  pushing,  driving)  occurs  in 
Heb.  only  here  and  27^^  (Aramaic  in  Dan.  42^.32.33(22.29.30)  ^21-^^  q^ 
Wisd.  Sol.  3^-.  —  Wife  is  lit.  woman,  here  possibly  any  "woman," 
but  the  special  reference  is  more  probable.  An  Arab  proverb, 
which  De.  heard  from  Wetzstein,  says  that  three  things  make  a 
house  intolerable  :  iak  (the  leaking  through  of  rain),  nak  (a  wife's 
nagging)  and  Imk  (bugs)  ;    other  parallels  are  cited  by  Malan. — 

14.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Wealth,  says 
the  sage,  is  an  accident  of  birth,  while  a  wise  wife  is  a  special 
favor  from  God  (lit.  Yahtveh).  This  seems  to  be  a  curious  limi- 
tation of  divine  providence,  which,  we  expect  an  Israelite  to  say, 


374  PROVERBS 

certainly  controls  a  man's  birth  and  inheritance  of  property  as 
well  as  his  choice  of  a  wife  ;  the  distinction  made  between  social 
conditions  established  by  social  law  and  acts  controlled  by  the 
will  of  the  individual  is  popular,  not  philosophical  or  theocratic 
(the  form  in  i8^-  is  better)  ;  it  shows,  however,  the  value  set  on  a 
good  wife.  In  early  times  the  wife  was  usually  chosen  by  the 
young  man's  parents  (Gen.  24'^  38^)?  though  not  always  (Ju. 
14^);  at  a  later  period  considerable  freedom  was  doubtless 
accorded  the  man,  and  a  happy  choice  on  his  part  is  here  repre- 
sented as  due  to  special  divine  guidance.  V.^^  suggests  an  un- 
happy choice.  —  IVi'se  =  intelligent,  probably  in  the  special  sense 
of  thrifty ;  cf.  31^""^^  This  second  cl.  gives  a  contrast  to  the 
second  cl.  of  v.^^.  Cf.  18"  (and  Eccl.  9^)  ;  in  BS.  26^  a  good  wife 
is  the  portion  of  those  who  fear  God,  and  such  is  the  implication 
in  our  passage. 

15.  Inconveniences  of  idleness. 

Slothfulness  casts  into  a  deep  sleep, 
The  idle  man  must  suffer  hunger. 

Synonymous,  ternary.  The  noun  deep  sleep  is  found  in  Gen.  2^ 
15^^  I  Sam.  26'-  Isa.  29'°  Job  4^^  t,-^'%  the  corresponding  verb  in 
Ju.  4-^  Jon.  r'  Dan.  8'^  the  Participle  in  10^  (on  which  see  note) 
^  76"''*  Jon.  i"  Dan.  lo^  The  expression  here  signifies  complete 
inactivity.    Man,  lit.  soul  ( =  person ) .    Cf.  6^'  i'*  10*  1 2^*  20^^  24^^-  ^. 

16.  Obedience  to  law  gives  life. 

He  who  obeys  the  law  preserves  his  life, 
He  who  despises  the  <  word  >  will  die. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  he  who  keeps  the  coni7nand- 
fnent  keeps  his  life  (lit.  soul),  he  who  despises  his  ways  will  die. 
The  law  may  be  human  (especially  the  teaching  of  the  sages)  or 
divine  ;  the  principle  of  the  couplet  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  but 
in  the  latter  case  it  is  God  who  (directly  or  indirectly)  deals  out 
reward  or  punishment  (as  in  ;f^),  while  in  the  latter  the  agent  of 
retribution  is  the  court  of  justice,  or  the  natural  law  of  human 
society.  —  We  may  also  translate  :  he  who  obeys  (or,  co7iforms  to) 
law,  that  is,  regulates  his  conduct  by  an  established  (and,  presum- 


XIX.  I4-I8  375 

ably,  wise)  norm,  instead  of  by  his  own  caprice ;  the  general 
sense  remains  the  same.  —  For  the  Heb.  despises  his  ways  an  easy 
change  of  text  gives  the  reading:  despises  the  word  (as  in  13^^), 
which  supplies  the  appropriate  parallelism  of  nouns ;  the  verb 
despises  cannot  well  be  used  of  a  man's  ways  (Frank.).  Will  die 
is  the  reading  of  the  Heb.  margin  (Masoretic),  the  text  has  will 
be  put  to  death,  that  is,  by  decision  of  the  judge  —  the  common 
legal  expression  (as  in  Ex.  21^--^*,  etc.)  ;  the  former  is  more  in 
accordance  with  the  manner  of  Pr.,  which  regards  death  as  the 
natural  consequence  of  wrong-doing.     Cf.  13^^  15^"  16^^. 

17.  God  rewards  kindness  to  the  poor. 

He  who  has  pity  on  the  poor  lends  to  Yahweh, 
And  he  will  repay  him  his  deed. 

Continued  thought,  binary,  or  ternary-binary.  On  poor  see  note 
on  10''';  cf.  22^  29^  \\i  41''-'.  In  second  cl.  we  may  render  good 
deed  (as  RV.),  the  adj.  being  supplied  from  the  connection  ;  the 
Heb.  word  signifies  "something  done,"  sometimes  good  {\\i  103"), 
sometimes  bad  {\\i  137*),  often  with  the  suggestion  that  there  is  to 
be  retribution  or  recompense  for  the  thing  done,  as  here  and  1 2". 
Kindness  to  the  poor  is  regarded  as  done  to  God  (cf.  Mt.  25^"), 
who  will  repay  it,  as  the  whole  Book  suggests,  by  bestowing  long 
life  and  worldly  prosperity.  —  The  ethical  basis  of  the  proverb  is 
the  recognition  of  the  natural  duty  of  caring  for  the  poor.  The 
motive  urged  is  not  the  obligation  to  do  right,  but  the  reward  of 
rightdoing. 

18.  Chastisement  saves  a  child. 

Chastise  thy  son  while  there  is  still  hope  — 
Set  not  thy  heart  on  his  destruction. 

Implicit  parallelism,  quaternary-ternary.  Chastise  is  teach  {^  2'"), 
reprove  (Pr.  ^),  correct  (Jer.  30"),  here  punish  bodily,  as  in 
2gi7. 19  j3|._  21I8.  Instead  of  7vhile  the  Heb.  may  be  rendered  for 
(RV.  seeing).  Set  not  thy  heart  is  lit.  lift  not  np  thy  soul  (=  thy 
desire^,  as  in  1//  24^  25'  86^.  On  his  destruction  is  lit.  to  kill  him. 
Cf.  13-^  23"  29''.  The  sense  is  :  train  thy  son  by  bodily  chastise- 
ment in  the  docile  period  of  childhood  —  do  not,  through  weak 


376  PROVERBS 

or  mistaken  kindness,  so  neglect  to  control  him  that  he  shall  go 
astray  and  finally  suffer  death  as  the  natural  (legal  or  other)  conse- 
quence of  his  ill-doing.  The  second  cl.  can  hardly  be  understood 
as  a  warning  against  excessive  bodily  punishment  {^cio  not  cai-ry 
your  chastisement  so  far  as  to  kill  him) .  According  to  Dt.  21^*"^^ 
a  son,  on  the  representation  of  his  father  that  he  was  intractable, 
might  be  sentenced  to  death  by  the  elders  of  the  city ;  but  the 
more  refined  feeling  of  later  times  revolted  against  this  procedure.* 
In  the  family  life  contemplated  by  Pr.  it  is  highly  improbable  that 
a  father  would  ever  think  of  carrying  chastisement  to  the  point  of 
killing  his  son.  The  meaning  of  the  couplet  is  given  in  23^^.  — 
Bickell :  do  not  fancy  that  thou  could' st  kill  him,  a  violent  and 
inappropriate  emendation.  The  rendering  let  not  thy  soul  spare 
for  his  crying  (AV.)t  is  hardly  permitted  by  the  Hebrew. 

13.  Before  |^  •^•\^  dripping  3  should,  perhaps,  be  inserted.  — 14.  J^  nSx'D 
prudent ;  (§  apixb^erai  (with  which  Lag.  compares  the  (g  rendering  of  hyi<  in 
Gen.  48^*)  takes  the  Heb.  word  as  =  is  wisely  adapted,  that  is,  given  in 
marriage  (and  so  SC).  — 15.  The  couplet  occurs  in  (@  in  18^,  with  variations. 
— 16.  Bi.  changes  the  second  nrr  of  |§  to  3ns  to  avoid  repetition  (referring 
to  v.^) ;  but  the  repetition  is  here  effective.  —  |^  vom;  read  ^J^,  to  agree 
with  njb,  Keth.  nr;^;  read  Qeri  nc\  — 18.  p?  Tcn  "^n;  (S  (followed  by  S)  eh 
v^piv,  =  ■^iT'Cn  Sn,  from  ncn  (Jag.))  or  Aram.  Ncn  7ieglect,  despise  (Lag.)  ;  A^TIL 
=  1^. — The  text  appears  to  be  corrupt,  but  no  satisfactory  emendation  offers 
itself.     Bi. :  ics:  Ntifn  D-in  '^ni. 

19.   Text  and  translation  doubtful. 

The  Heb.  margin  reads  :  A  man  of  great  anger  pays  a  fine  (or, 
must  bear  a  penalty)  (or,  he  who  pays  a  fine  is  very  angry),  for, 
(or,  but,  or,  in  truth)  if  thou  rescue,  thou  must  do  so  again  (or, 
thou  wilt  increase).  In  first  cl.  great  is  the  reading  of  the  Heb. 
margin ;  the  text  has  an  obscure  word,  variously  rendered  {stony, 

*  In  the  oldest  known  Semitic  material  there  is  no  mention  of  the  father's  power 
of  life  and  death  over  the  son ;  see  the  Sumerian  "  Laws  relating  to  the  family  " 
(found  in  Assurbanipal's  library,  and  probably  adopted  by  the  Assyrians),  in 
which  the  severest  punishment  that  could  be  inflicted  on  a  refractory  son  is  expul- 
sion from  the  father's  house.  But  the  law  in  Dt.  21I8-21  js  probably  a  modification 
of  an  earlier  Hebrew  regulation,  according  to  which  the  father  had  the  power  of 
inflicting  death  (cf.  Ex.  2ii5. 17).  Cf.  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  Sem."^.  pp.  59 f.  The 
power  of  life  and  death  was  originally  included  in  the  Rom-^n  patria  poiestas. 

t  Following  medieval  Jewish  authorities. 


XIX.  i8-2o  377 

hard,  rough,  freqiienf).  Of  the  many  interpretations  offered  of 
second  cl.  the  following  are  the  principal :  If  thou  save  [thine 
enemy]  thou  wilt  add  [good  to  thyself]  *  ;  If  thou  save  [thy  son, 
by  moderate  chastisement],  thou  mayst  continue  [chastisement, 
and  so  educate  him  to  virtue]  f  ;  If  thou  save  [the  angry  man 
from  the  legal  penalty,  thine  interposition  is  useless],  thou  must 
do  it  again  [since  he  will  repeat  his  offence]  %  ;  If  thou  save  [the 
person  who  is  the  object  of  the  angry  man's  wrath],  thou  increas- 
est  [the  angry  man's  wrath].  §  These  interpretations  supply  a 
great  deal,  and  the  two  last  assume  (what  is  improbable)  that 
anger  is  a  finable  offence.  With  changes  of  text  we  may  read  : 
The  more  he  sins,  the  more  he  adds  to  his  punishment  ||  ;  or,  [a 
man  who  is  fined  is  very  angry]  but  if  he  show  contempt  [of 
court],  he  has  to  pay  more^;  but  such  details  of  legal  penalties 
(even  if  they  could  be  got  naturally)  are  out  of  place  in  this 
series  of  aphorisms.  The  text  appears  to  be  incurably  corrupt, 
and  there  is  perhaps,  in  addition,  a  dislocation. 

20,  21.   Human  counsel,  human  and  divine  plans. 

20.  Hearken  to  counsel,  and  receive  instruction, 
That  thou  mayst  be  wise  in  future. 

21.  Many  are  the  thoughts  in  a  man's  mind, 
But  the  plan  of  Yahvveh,  it  will  stand. 

20.  Continuous,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary  (possibly  binary- 
ternary).  On  counsel diXidi  insiructioti  see  notes  on  i^^-;  they  are 
the  teaching  of  the  sages,  or  of  sagacious  persons  in  general,  and 
they  make  one  wise  in  all  affairs.  The  thought  may  be  simply 
the  commonsense  one  :  "  take  advice  if  you  would  act  sensibly — 
only  a  fool  refuses  to  take  advice,"  or  there  may  be  a  reference  to 
the  philosophical,  ideal  conception  of  wisdom  of  chs.  1-9.  In 
future  is  lit.  in  thine  after-life  (RV.  thy  latter  end),  an  expression 
which  generally  means  "  the  end  of  life  "  (see  5'*),  but  here,  from 
the  connection,  seems  to  signify  "  hereafter  [after  receiving 
instruction]  in  thy  life."      The  Syriac  reading  in  thy  ways  is  per- 

*  Rashi.  t  Saad.  Michaelis.  %  Bertheau,  RV.  al. 

§  Str.  Wild.  Strack  quotes  Rabbi  Simeon  ben  Eleazar  {Pirke  Aboth  4,  18)  :  "do 
not  try  to  soothe  thy  neighbor  when  he  is  angry,"  for  you  thereby  only  exasperate 
him.  II  Syr.  Targ.  \  Frankenberg. 


378  PROVERBS 

haps  better.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  couplet,  taken  as  an 
address  to  the  pupil,  refers  to  technical  teaching  and  promotion 
in  the  schools :  "  thou  art  now  only  a  beginner,  but  listen  to 
instruction,  and  thou  wilt  become  a  sage"  (Wild.).  —  21.  Anti- 
thetic, ternary.  Thoughts  =  reflections,  designs ;  plan  is  in  Heb. 
the  same  word  as  that  rendered  counsel  in  v.-",  but  here  decision, 
design  (regarded  as  the  result  of  deliberation).  The  absolutely 
wise  and  sure  divine  purpose  in  the  government  of  the  affairs  of 
men  is  contrasted  with  the  diversity  and  uncertainty  of  human 
plans;  cf.  i6^-^-^  20-^  3^ 

22.    Form  and  sense  are  uncertain. 

Lit. :  the  desire  of  a  man  is  his  kindness,  and  a  poor  ?nan  is 
better  than  a  liar.  The  meaning  of  first  cl.  is  doubtful.  It  may 
be  taken  (with  objective  genitival  construction)  to  be :  "  the 
desire  felt  toward  a  man  (our  regard  for  him)  is  called  forth  by 
his  kindness"  (to  us  or  to  others),  but  this*  is  an  improbable 
translation  ;  or  "  that  which  is  desired  by  man  is  to  receive  kind- 
ness "  (Saad.),  or  "man's  desire  and  joy  is  to  show  kindness,"! 
both  of  which  are  doubtful  as  translations,  and  give  a  thought 
which  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  tone  of  the  Book.  Many 
recent  expositors  %  render :  "  a  man's  goodwill  is  his  kindness," 
that  is,  beneficence  lies  in  the  intention ;  but  the  Heb.  word 
hardly  means  "goodwill" — it  is  "desire"  or  "the  thing  desired,"  § 
as  in  10-^  11^  j^^-  ^^  \p  10^^  78^^  Gen.  3'',  and  never  elsewhere  in 
OT.  has  the  sense  of  "  intention."  And  further,  if  it  could  be 
held  to  have  that  sense  here,  the  form  of  the  Heb.  sentence 
would  still  be  hard  and  improbable.  None  of  these  translations 
establish  a  relation  between  the  two  clauses  of  the  couplet ;  the 
interpretation:  "the  essence  of  beneficence  is  the  intention  —  a 
poor  man  who  would  give,  but  cannot,  is  better  than  a  rich  man 
who  could  give,  but  lies  and  says  he  cannot  give  "  ||  manifestly 
imports  into  the  text  what  does  not  exist  there.  —  Grk.  (with 
change  of  text)  "  mercy  is  fruit  to  a  man,"  whence  Ew.  "  a  man's 
gain  is  his  pious  love,"  and  so  a  poor  man  who  has  this  love  (Grk. 


*  RV.  marg.,  Rashi  and  other  medieval  Jewish  expositors,  Schult.  Noyes  ("that 
which  makes  a  man  beloved"). 

t  Bertheau,  Zock.  f  Stade,  Kamp.  Wild. 

I  Euchel,  De.  Reuss,  Now.  Str.,  and  so  RV.  ||  De.  Str.  al. 


XIX.  21-23  379 

a  righteous  poor  man)  is  better  than  one  who  has  become  rich  by 
lying  (Grk.  a  rich  liar)  ;  this,  though  more  intelHgible  than  the 
Heb.,  is  still  forced.  It  would  give  a  better  sense  to  read  :  a 
man's  kindness  is  a  revenue  to  him,  that  is,  "  kindness  is  good 
policy,"  but  the  Heb.  would  not  be  a  natural  form  of  expression 
for  this  thought.  The  Lat.  gets  the  doubtful  proposition  in  first 
cl.:  "a  needy  man  is  merciful."  Hitzig,  taking  the  suggestion  of 
the  Grk.,  renders  :  "  from  the  revenue  of  a  man  is  his  kind  gift," 
an  insignificant  truism.  Dyserinck,  changing  the  text  in  second 
cl. :  "  what  is  attractive  in  a  man  is  his  friendliness,  but  better 
rough  (or,  crabbed)  than  false";  but  the  interpretation  of  "the 
desire  of  a  man  "  as  =  "  what  is  desirable  in  a  man  "  is  not  sup- 
ported by  OT.  usage.  —  The  second  cl.  should  probably  read  :  an 
honest  poor  man  is  better  than  a  rich  liar.  The  first  cl.  must  be 
left  untranslated,  as  affording  no  satisfactory  sense ;  and  it  cannot 
be  brought  into  natural  connection  with  the  second  clause. 

23.  Piety  gives  safety. 

The  fear  of  Yahweh  leads  to  life, 

<  Who  hopes  in  him '  will  be  unvisited  by  harm. 

Synonymous.  Lit. :  the  fear  of  Yahweh  {tends)  to  life,  and  he 
dwells  (or,  abides)  satisfied,  he  7vill  not  be  visited  by  evil.  The 
enallage  of  subject  in  the  Received  Text  is  harsh,  and  not  in 
accordance  with  the  style  of  Pr.  —  the  he  of  second  cl.  has  no 
antecedent;  the  rendering  one  dwells  (De.  Zock.)  is  not  allow- 
able, but,  if  our  Heb.  text  be  retained,  this  form,  or  the  insertion 
of  "  to  man  "  in  first  cl.  or  the  explanation  "  he  who  has  it  dwells  " 
(RV.  and  most  recent  translators)  is  necessary  for  syntactical 
clearness ;  the  Heb.  text  is  in  bad  condition,  and  something  like 
the  emendation  above  suggested  seems  necessary;  cf  29^  \^  146^. 
Life  =  long  Ufe  and  prosperity,  bestowed  by  God  as  reward  of 
obedience;  see  notes  on  i'^'^  3-.  On  dwell  see  note  on  15^^ 
Satisfied  =  content  (27^  »//  17^^,  cf.  Pr.  30^  xj/  16^^).  With  first  cl. 
cf.  14"',  with  second  cl.  cf.  10^. 

24-29.  Sluggards,  mockers  of  parents  and  of  truth,  perjurers. 

24.    The  lazy  man  dips  his  hand  into  the  dish, 
And  will  not  bring  it  to  his  mouth. 


380  PROVERBS 

25.  Smite  a  mocker,  and  the  ignorant  becomes  wise, 
Reprove  a  man  of  sense,  and  he  gains  knowledge. 

26.  He  who  maltreats  his  father  and  drives  away  his  mother 
Is  a  son  who  acts  shamefully  and  disgracefully. 

27.  ?  <  He  who  ceases'  to  listen  to  instruction 
»  Will'  wander  from  words  of  knowledge? 

28.  A  false  witness  scoffs  at  justice, 

And  the  mouth  of  the  wicked  i  utters '  iniquity. 

29.  Penalties  are  prepared  for  scoffers. 
And  stripes  for  the  backs  of  fools. 

24.  Continuous,  quaternary-ternary.  A  humorous  and  sarcastic 
rebuke  of  laziness,  repeated,  with  variation  of  expression  in 
second  cl.,  in  26^^  Dips  is  in  the  Heb.  Ut.  hides  (RV.  hurieth)  ; 
dish  occurs  in  2  K.  21'^  (and  nearly  the  same  Heb.  word  in  2  K. 
2-°  2  C.  35^")  ;  the  scene  is  a  meal,  and  the  method  of  eating  is 
Oriental  (cf.  Mk.  14^).  The  verb  of  the  Heb.  {taman)  is  hardly 
appropriate  (Schult.  Bi.),  and  should  perhaps  be  changed  (to 
tubal,  dip).  The  last  word  of  first  cl.  is  rendered  or  read  vari- 
ously in  the  Anc.  Vrss. :  bosom*;  armpit \ ;  Rashi  reports  a  ren- 
dering slit  in  a  garment  (=  bosoni),  and  Gratz  suggests  garment. 
There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  for  changing  the  reading  dish, 
though  bosom  gives  a  good  sense.  —  25.  Antithetic,  quaternary  or 
ternary.  On  mocker  ( =  one  who  contemptuously  rejects  right 
teaching,  is  unteachable)  see  note  on  i".  Ignorant  =  simple, 
moral  simpleton  (!■*•").  The  morally  ignorant  man,  says  the 
proverb,  is  warned  when  bad  men  are  punished  —  it  is  an  intelli- 
gible object-lesson  ;  a  wise  man  learns  in  a  more  rational  way,  by 
giving  heed  to  advice.  —  26.  Continuous,  binary-ternary.  In 
second  cl.  we  may  render  :  who  is  vile  and  despicable  (Reuss),  or 
who  causes  shame  and  reproach  (RV.  De.,  cf.  29^").  Cf.  10^  13^ 
17^  Nothing  is  said  of  the  punishment  of  the  unworthy  son  ;  the 
old  laws  (Ex.  21^^^^)  had  probably  at  this  time  fallen  into  desue- 
tude.—  Maltreats  is  probably  equivalent  to  drives  away.  The 
son  here  seems  to  be  in  possession  of  the  property  in  his  father's 
Hfetime  ;  the  latter  is  presumably  decrepit,  the  care  of  the  property 
falls  naturally  to  the  son,  whose  unfilial  conduct,  though  it  may  be 
condemned  by  public  opinion,  does  not  come  under  the  cogni- 

*  Grk.  Syr.,  and  so  some  medieval  Jewish  commentators,  AV.  Bickell. 
t  Aq.  Sym.  Targ.  Lat. 


XIX.  24-29  3^1 

zance  of  the  law.  —  27.  Lit.  cease,  my  son,  to  listen  to  instructio?i,  to 
wander  from  the  words  of  knowledge.  The  saying  has  been  inter- 
preted as  a  serious  exhortation,  =  "  cease  to  hsten  to  that  sort  of 
teaching  which  will  cause  thee  to  wander,"  etc.,*  but  the  Heb. 
term  here  rendered  instruction  can  hardly  be  understood,  when 
used  without  an  adjective,  to  mean  anything  but  right  instruction, 
nor  has  it  any  other  meaning  elsewhere  in  Pr. ;  or  f  "  cease  to 
listen  to  [good]  instruction  in  order  (that  is,  if  thy  purpose  is,  or, 
if  the  result  for  thee  is  to  be)  to  wander,"  etc.,  but  such  an  exhor- 
tation (=  "better  not  hear  than  hear  and  not  obey")  is  foreign 
to  the  thought  of  Pr.,  which  elsewhere  divides  men  into  the  two 
classes,  those  who  hear  and  those  who  do  not  hear,  and  does  not 
deal  with  the  case  of  those  who  dally  with  teaching  or  seek  it  in 
sport  or  know  and  act  not  (Wildeboer  refers  to  Lu.  \2^').  Ewald 
and  Reuss  regard  the  exhortation  as  ironical,  =  "  only  cease  to  hear, 
and  you  will  soon  wander,"  etc.,  but  the  latter  thinks  such  a  form 
unexampled  in  Pr.  and  doubtful.  The  grammatical  construction  of 
the  Hebrew,  also,  is  not  clear,  and  the  address  7ny  son  does  not  else- 
where occur  in  this  division  of  the  Book  (10^-22'*^).  The  text  must 
be  changed  either  as  in  the  translation  given  above,  or  so  as  to 
read  :  Cease,  my  son,  to  hate  instruction,  to  wander,  etc.,  or,  do 
not  cease,  tny  son,  to  listen,  etc.,  and  do  not  wander,  etc.  If  the 
second  or  third  reading  be  adopted,  the  couplet  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  chs.  1-9  (cf.  5^-)  or  chs.  22^'-24-^  (cf.  23^-).  —  28.  Syn- 
onymous, quaternary  or  ternary.  False  is  lit.  wicked;  for  the  mean- 
ing of  the  term  {belial)  see  note  on  6^^  The  scene  of  first  cl.  is  a 
court  of  justice  (Ex.  20^*^  Lev.  5^),  and  the  second  cl.,  from  the  par- 
allelism, is  to  be  so  understood  :  the  wicked  witness  inflicts  injury 
by  false  statements ;  the  iniquity  is  the  harm  done  by  the  perjurer 
not  to  his  own  soul  (so  the  Grk.),  but  to  the  legal  rights  of  others. 
Instead  of  Heb.  gulps  down,  read  utters  (see  i"^  15"  \p  59^*^'  78^). 
Cf.  6^^  14-^  25^*.  —  29.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Penalties,  \\t.  judg- 
ments, a  term  which  occurs  only  in  the  plu.,  and  is  found  elsewhere 
only  in  Ez.  and  later  parts  of  Ex.  Num.  Chr. ;  a  change  of  one 
letter  of  the  Heb.  gives  rods  (so  the  Grk.),  which  offers  an  exacter 
parallelism  to  the  stripes  of  second  cl.    On  scoffers  (to  which  fools 

*  Saad.  Schult.  Str.  t  Oetinger,  De.  Now. 


382  PROVERBS 

is  here  equivalent)  see  note  on  i'^  The  punishment  spoken  of  is 
that  inflicted  by  men. 

19.  Kethib  SiJ,  with  which  Arab,  ^-j)  stony,  hard  may  be  compared  (Ew. 
explains  it  by  Arab.  ^•'U  frequent,  but  the  interchange  of  r  and  i  is  improbable). 
The  stem  ^-\:i  in  this  sense  may  be  found  in  "•ij  /o/ (originally,  ■p^xh^.^ts,  pebble, 
Schult.  al.),  but  as  the  adj.  does  not  elsewhere  occur  in  North-Semitic,  the 
Qeri  ViJ  (so  0)  seems  preferable.  For  |^  '^xn  and  ^oh  Frank,  proposes  y'-'^ 
and  fiD'-.  —  l^''  appears  to  be  corrupt,  but  a  satisfactory  emendation  is  difficult. 
—  20.  |§^."n^s3;  5i  irmx^,  perhaps  to  be  adopted.  —  22.  I^nix^;  i^  Kapirhs, 
whence  Ew.  and  Bi.  emend  to  nsan  revenue ;  kindness  may  be  said  to  be  a 
source  of  revenue,  but  cannot  be  called  revenue.  -Dn  is  not  "pious  love" 
(Ew.),  but  general  benevolence  and  friendliness.  —  In  ^  <3  supplies  the  sug- 
gested adjectives.  —  23.  |§''  f';'^  >'3i;'  appears  to  be  a  corrupt  expression.  An 
intelligible  reading  of  ^  would  be:  yi  i|^g;  '?3  rVy  i3t:';  the  same  thought  is 
expressed  in  29-^,  with  n^2  instead  of  "13;;'.  —  24.  |^  rnSx;  (§  kSXttov  accords 
with  the  verb  of  |^,  |ClC,  and  is  perhaps  a  guess  induced  by  this  verb.  The 
noun  in  f§  is  more  pertinent  (for  why  should  a  man  take  his  hand  from  his 
bosom  in  order  to  carry  it  to  his  mouth?),  and  the  verb  should  perhaps  be 
changed  to  '?rj.  —  26.  |^  -\T<^r.;  Gr.  iVjc  ejects,  to  secure  exacter  parallelism 
with  n-i:i<,  or,  as  he  writes  it,  mac.  —  27.  (3:  .ijn  for  |^  nij-,  and  >n  for 
1^  ~iy-i;  3L:  do  nut  cease  .  .  .  afzd  be  not  ignorant  etc.;  SST :  cease,  my  son, 
and  hear  .  .  .  and  thou  wilt  not  wander  etc.  The  Heb.  form  is  doubtful;  we 
may  insert  the  neg.  with  3L,  or  write  vxju'  for  |tj  •;r2Z',  or,  omitting  •'J3,  read  h-^'n 
and  njr^  for  |§  '?in  and  n'jr'?.  —  28.  |§  '?>"'^a  iv;  <&  6  iyyvufievos  iraida 
&<i>pova,  = -2  p  2-\y  (Lag.).  —  |^  ^"^2^;  Frank.,  better,  j!a\  —  29.  |§  a-JOB*; 
(§  fxda-TLyes,  =  oaati',  perh.  better. 

XX.  1.  Folly  of  drinking  to  excess. 

Wine  is  a  mocker,  mead  is  a  brawler. 
Whoever  is  overtaken  thereby  is  not  wise. 

Extensive,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary.  The  sense  is  :  it  is 
not  prudent  or  sensible  to  indulge  to  excess  in  intoxicating  drinks, 
or :  one  thus  overtaken  (that  is,  drunk)  does  not  in  this  condi- 
tion behave  or  act  wisely.  JVi//e  {yayin)  is  the  fermented  juice 
of  the  grape ;  of  mead  (RV.  strong  drink)  all  that  appears  from 
OT.  is  that  it  was  intoxicating  (Isa.  28''),  and,  in  the  later  legisla- 
tion (Lev.  10^)  forbidden  to  priests,  that  it  was  a  common  bev- 
erage of  the  people  in  the  religious  feasts  of  the  preexilic  time 
(Dt.  14^®),  and  that  Nazirites  (and  probably  also  the  Rechabites, 
Jer.  35)   abstained  from  it   (not  on  account  of  its  intoxicating 


XIX.  29-XX.  4  383 

qualities,  but  because  they  represented  the  old  pastoral  life,  and 
rejected  agricultural  novelties).  It  is  not  improbable  that  it  was 
the  fermented  juice  of  fruits  (other  than  grapes),  such  as  the 
pomegranate  (cf.  Cant.  8")  and  the  date.*  Mocker,  scoffing  at  all 
things  good  and  true  ;  brawler,  violent,  loud,  uncontrolled.  The 
drink  is  credited  with  the  characteristics  which  it  produces  in 
men.  Is  overtaken,  lit.  reels  (Isa,  28^),  is  intoxicated  (cf.  5^^)  ; 
the  rendering  errs  (RV.)  or  is  deceived  (AV.)  is  possible,  but  less 
appropriate, 

2.  Royal  anger. 

The  wrath  of  a  king  is  hke  the  roar  of  a  lion, 
He  who  <  angers  >  him  sins  against  himself. 

Comparison  and  its  explanation,  quaternary-ternary.  Wrath  of, 
lit.  terror  of,  =  "  terror  inspired  by  "  ;  Grk.  threat  is  formally  a 
more  appropriate  expression  —  the  lion's  roar  is  properly  an  illus- 
tration of  an  utterance  of  the  king ;  the  Heb.  means  to  say  :  the 
terror  produced  by  an  angry  king  \z  as  great  as  that  produced  by 
the  roar  of  a  lion.  The  translation  angers  follows  the  Grk.  ;  the 
Heb.  is  rather  is  angry  with  (RV.  marg.).  Instead  oi  himself  we 
may  render  his  own  life  {nefesh,  soul).  For  sins  against  we 
should  perhaps  read  harms,  as  in  8^.      Cf.  16"  19^^. 

3.  Folly  of  strife. 

It  is  an  honor  for  a  man  to  keep  aloof  from  strife, 
Only  fools  are  quarrelsome. 

Antithetic,  quaternary-binary.  The  second  cl.  reads  lit. :  but 
every  fool  is  qua7-relsonie  (or,  quarrels,  RV.,  will  be  quarrelling). 
On  the  word  here  rendered  quarrel  set  notes  on  17"  i8\ 

4.  Sloth  produces  no  bread. 

In  the  autumn  the  sluggard  does  not  plough, 

And  therefore  in  harvest  he  looks  in  vain  (for  a  crop). 

Continuous,  ternary.  Autumn  is  here  particularly  the  season, 
following  the  last  ingathering  of  crops,  when  the  ground  is  to  be 

*  Our  words  sugar,  sacc/iarhte  probably  have  the  same  stem  as  the  Heb.  term 
(shekar).    On  its  meaning  cf.  Lag.,  it/<////tf<7«»^tf«,  2,  357 ;  lioviUfik,  Arch.,i,  120. 


384  PROVERBS 

prepared  for  sowing  (the  season  of  the  "  former "  or  "  early " 
rain),  beginning  in  October  and  lasting  four  or  five  months  ;  the 
Heb.  term  is,  however,  generally  used  for  the  colder  half  of  the 
year  (Gen.  8-*  Am.  3^^  if/  74^')  as  opposed  to  the  warmer  half 
which  includes  harvest-time  and  summer.  The  harvest  begins  in 
April  (barley)  and  lasts  till  September  (grapes).  The  rendering 
by  reason  of  the  winter  (RV.)  or  of  the  cold  (Lat.)  is  improbable 
—  the  sluggard  is  deterred  not  by  cold,  but  by  laziness ;  f-om  the 
beginning  of  autiinui  on  (De.  Str.)  is  possible,  but  less  natural 
than  /;/  ai/tiunn.  Looks  in  vain,  lit.  asks  and  there  is  nothing ; 
he  seeks  food  from  his  fields,  but,  owing  to  his  neglect,  there  is 
none ;  the  rendering  begs  (or,  shail  beg,  Lat.  RV.)  is  inappro- 
priate —  the  man's  slothfulness  would  not  prevent  his  being 
helped  by  his  neighbors,  especially  in  the  plentiful  and  joyous 
time  of  harvest. 

5.  Shrewdness  discovers  plans. 

The  purpose  in  a  man's  mind  is  deep  water, 
But  a  man  of  sagacity  will  draw  it  out. 

Continuous,  quaternary-ternary.  A  man's  real  thought,  the  prov- 
erb says,  is  hard  to  fathom,  but  may  be  discovered  by  one  who 
knows  how  to  sound  the  mind.  Purpose  is  counsel,  plan,  the 
result  of  deliberation ;  mind  is  lit.  heart ;  deep  water  (plu.  in  the 
Heb.)  is  the  symbol  of  something  hard  to  exhaust  or  apprehend. 
The  figure  is  that  of  a  mass  of  water  which  has  to  be  drawn  from 
a  well  or  reservoir ;  the  deeper  the  water  the  harder  the  task. 
The  allusion  is  to  men's  disposition  to  conceal  their  plans.  A 
clever  man  will  discover  a  plan  by  shrewd  inquiries  and  guesses. 
The  proverb  has  no  moral  content.  See  18^,  in  which  our  first  el. 
occurs  with  words  for  purpose,  and  mouth  for  mind. 

6.  Rarity  of  real  friendship. 

Many  men  profess  friendship, 

But  a  trustworthy  man  who  can  find? 

Antithetic,  ternary.  The  first  line  is  lit. :  many  meti  proclaim 
every  one  his  kindness  (or,  many  a  man  proclaims  his  kindness), 
=  "  professions  of  willingness  to  be  helpful  are  frequent,"  with 
the  imphcation  that  such  professions  are   frequently  hollow  ^—^  it 


XX.  4-7  385 

is  not  easy  to  find  a  man  trushvorthy  or  faithful,  one  who  can 
be  relied  on  for  sympathy  and  aid  in  time  of  stress.*  — The  text 
has  also  been  rendered  :  viany  a  man  meets  a  man  of  kindness 
(or,  a  man  who  is  kind  to  him),  taking  kind  in  the  sense  of 
"kind  in  words  only,"  or  "kind  in  occasional  matters"  (with  the 
implication  that  the  friendliness  does  not  go  far).t  The  general 
sense  in  this  translation  is  the  same  as  that  given  above,  but  the 
meaning  attached  to  kindness  is  hardly  permitted  by  the  Hebrew 
—  the  word  means  "real  kindliness."  The  same  general  sense 
also  is  given  by  the  rendering  (which  involves  a  slight  departure 
from  our  Heb.  text)  :  maiiy  a  man  is  called  kind,  J  in  which  the 
antithesis  is  direct  and  natural.  Either  this  translation  or  the  one 
here  adopted  gives  a  satisfactory  form  to  the  couplet. 

7-11.   Rectitude  of  conduct.  —  Single  sentences  (partial  par- 
allelism in  v.^). 

7.  A  man  of  probity  and  righteousness  — 
Happy  are  his  children  after  him  I 

8.  A  king  who  sits  on  the  judgment-seat 
Winnows  all  evil  with  his  eyes. 

9.  Who  can  say :  "  I  have  made  my  heart  clean, 
I  am  pure  from  sin  "? 

10.  Divers  weights,  divers  measures, 
Abomination  to  Yahweh  are  they  both. 

11.  i  Even  a  child  >  is  known  by  his  deeds, 
According  as  his  conduct  is  good  or  i  bad.' 

7.  Ternary.  Lit.  ojie  who  walks  in  his  probity  as  a  righteous 
man.  The  expressions  in  probity  and  righteous  are  to  be  taken 
together  as  hendiadys.  The  term  probity  (lit.  perfectness,  integ- 
rity) signifies  hearty  conformity  to  divine  and  human  law,  not  abso- 
lute sinlessness  (cf.  v.^)  ;  see  2'  io«  19^  Job  4«  ^  26^  101-,  and  cf. 
the  adj.  in  Dt.  18^^  Job  i^  .A  3?'  Pr-  2''  28'^  29^"  al.  Instead  of 
righteous  we  may  translate  \iy  just — each  of  these  terms  here 
=  perfect.  The  first  line  may  also  (but  not  so  well)  be  rendered  : 
the  righteous  man  walks  in  his  probity  (or,  in  probity).  —  The 
second  cl.  states  the  common  OT.  doctrine  of  the  heritability  of 
blessing  for  good   conduct;    see,  on  the  other  side.  Job   21°"' 


8-n 


*  So  Saad.  Ew.  RV.  al.        f  He.  Reuss,  Wild.  al.        %  Syr.  Targ.  Lat.  Kamp. 

2C 


386  PROVERBS 

i}/  17".  —  8.  Ternary.  The  Oriental  king  (like  the  chief  of  the 
tribe  or  clan)  acted  personally  as  judge  ;  cf.  2  Sam.  15^"*  i  K.  3^* 
Isa.  ii^-*  i/'  72*  (so  also,  for  ex.,  the  Califs  of  Bagdad).  The  king 
(who  is  assumed  to  be  just,  see  note  on  16^°*^)  winnows  all 
causes  with  his  eyes,  personally  examines  all  claims  and  charges, 
sifts  the  evidence,  especially  sifts  and  exposes  all  crime  and 
injustice.  The  verb  of  second  cl.  may  also  mean  scatfers  (RV), 
=  dissipates,  destroys ;  but  the  other  sense  accords  with  the 
expression  with  his  eyes,  and  is  supported  by  the  use  of  the  verb 
in  v.^^  —  9.  Ternary- binary.  A  declaration  of  human  moral 
imperfectness.  Such  a  belief  was  doubtless  coeval  with  ethical 
reflection  in  Israel  (Gen.  3  Isa.  6'),  being  a  necessary  result  of 
observation.  In  the  earlier  literature  (down  to  the  sixth  or  fifth 
century  B.C.)  it  is  taken  for  granted  without  formal  statement. 
The  distinct  recognition  of  sinfulness  as  an  element  of  human 
nature  begins  to  appear  in  Ezekiel  (18.  33),  and  the  formulation 
of  the  view  is  found  in  philosophical  or  reflective  writings  and 
utterances  (i  K.  %^  Job  4^""^^  14^  [apparently  an  interpolation] 
i/'  51^'''  130^  Eccl.  7™) ;  in  the  Psalter  we  have  only  two  or  three 
occurrences  of  the  general  affirmation,  the  reference  in  \p  14'^  and 
similar  passages  being  (as  the  context  indicates)  to  the  enemies 
of  pious  Israel.  The  two  conceptions,  universal  sinfulness  (v.^) 
and  the  possibility  of  practical  perfectness  (v.^),  were  held 
together,  without  attempt  to  harmonize  them  logically  —  they 
furnish  the  raw  material  of  later  theological  dogma  ;  in  our  Book 
of  Job  the  hero  is  pronounced  perfect  by  God  (Job  i^),  yet  is 
charged  with  sin  not  only  by  Elihu  (Job  34^  ®)  but  also  appar- 
ently by  God  himself  (Job  40*).  There  is,  in  OT.,  no  refer- 
ence of  human  peccability  to  the  event  described  in  Gen.  3. — 
10.  Binary.  See  ii^  2o-3  Am.  W  Dt.  2^^^'^^  Ez.  45^  and,  for 
second  line,  17^^;  cf.  BS.  26-",  and  v.^^  below,  —  11.  Ternary. 
The  Heb.  reads  :  a/so  (or,  eve?i)  by  his  deeds  a  child  is  (or, 
makes  himself)  knoivn,  whether  his  work  be  pU7-e  or  right.  The 
initial  particle  here  qualifies  either  the  expression  by  his  deeds,  or 
the  whole  clause ;  in  the  former  case  it  introduces  a  contrast 
between  deeds  and  something  else  (conceivably,  words)  as  mark 
of  character,  but  of  such  other  thing  there  is  no  trace ;  in  the 
latter  case  it  contrasts  this  clause  with  some  other,  but  there  is  no 


XX.  8-II  3^7 

other  with  which  it  stands  in  contrast.  The  natural  suggestion  is 
that  the  emphasis  is  on  cJiild,  and  the  position  of  the  particle  must 
be  changed  so  that  it  shall  qualify  this  word.  Even  a  young  child, 
the  sense  is,  shows  character  by  conduct ;  the  suggestion  is  that 
conduct  is  always  the  test  of  character  (Mt.  7-"),  and  that  training 
must  begin  early.  In  second  cl.  the  form  of  the  Heb.  implies  an 
antithesis,  and  it  is  therefore  better  to  read  bad  instead  of  right: 
whether  the  child's  conduct  be  good  or  bad,  in  either  case  it 
indicates  his  character.  The  translation  good  and  right  (Lat.) 
gives  up  the  antithesis.  The  rendering  even  in  play  (Ew.)  is  not 
supported  by  Heb.  usage,  and  the  ?,Qn?,Q  feign,  dissemble  (Gen.  42^) 
for  the  verb  of  first  cl.  is  here  inappropriate.  The  rendering 
whether  his  actions  [hereafter]  will  be  pure  etc.  is  syntactically 
improbable.  In  chs.  1-9  of  Pr.  child  is  used  of  mature  young 
manhood,  in  chs.  10-31  it  signifies  a  person  under  the  control  of 
parents,  living  (unmarried)  in  the  father's  house. 

XX.  2.  For  |§  ncN  Frank,  suggests  ncn;  cf.  the  fiyr  of  ig''^.  —  -^aynn  else- 
where =  to  be  (or,  become)  angry  with  ;  the  Vrss.  take  it  here  as  =  provoke, 
and  it  may  be  so  poetically  used,  in  a  sense  for  which  we  might  expect  Piel, 
but  this  form  is  not  found  with  such  a  meaning;  a  reading  aiync,  as  in  v.i^, 
is  here  improbable.  Hi.  conjectures  n3;;rr,  denom.  Tiphel  from  the  late 
(Targumic)  -ibj)n  anger,  but  such  a  verb  does  n  t  occur.  Possibly  we  should 
read  ^d.'dd  (cf.  Dt.  32-1).  After  Nai  the  object  sinned  against  is  elsewhere 
introduced  by  3  or  ^';;  8'*''  •'N'jn  lie  zvho  jjiisses  me  appears,  indeed,  to  show 
that  a  direct  object  is  possible,  but  we  should  perhaps  here  adopt  the  reading 
of  that  passage  \y^i  D  ;n  (so  Lag.  Gr.)  ;  otherwise  a  should  be  inserted  before 
i:'3J;  1^  is  supported  by  (!9<S®1L.  —  3.  (5  dTroa-Tp^(petTdai,  =  2VJ'  turn  away  from, 
a  good  reading;  |^,  from  a,"'  or  t^2t,  is  more  vigorous;  3L  separat  se  ;  ®  =  |^; 
%  trans,  to  put  away  strife.  —  4.  The  Prep.  ]r:  may  indicate  the  time  at  which 
something  is  done.  —  5.  The  reading  X670S  (=  pj  '"li")  of  H-P  109.  147  at., 
instead  of  the  /SouXtj  of  Codd.  BsA,  is  regarded  by  Lag.  and  Baumg.  as 
original,  on  the  ground  that  it  could  not  have  been  a  correction  of  the  latter. 
If  this  view  be  correct,  the  word  presents  a  noteworthy  instance  of  the  preser- 
vation of  an  original  reading  by  cursive  MSS.  But  at  most  it  can  only  be 
looked  on  as  probable;  the  possibility  of  a  change  of  ^ov\r)  into  \6yos,  or  of 
an  independent  rendering  of  the  Heb.  by  the  latter  term,  must  be  admitted. 

—  6.  In  |i|    -on  omit  the  suff.,  which  may  be  scribal  insertion  from  following  i. 

—  ?§  !^'">i"'  ;  ®  rifxiov,  —  -\p\  —  8.  1^  n-iT?: ;  (g  ovk  ^rai'TioOrai,  =  Pass,  mic, 
which  Gr.  adopts  with  the  sense  fastidio  est.  —  10.  (5,  interpreting:  ffrddfiov 
litfa  Ki\  ixiKpbv.  —  (5^  nere,  varying  from  |^,  gives  the  order  of  couplets  as 
v,9. 20-22  il-iJ.  23-30.   the  order  of  |^  is  given  in  N  23.     The  reason  for  the  differ- 


388  PROVERBS 

ence  is  not  apparent;  but  as  there  is  no  logical  connection  between  couplets, 
accident  or  scribal  caprice  might  easily  vary  the  order.  — 11.  Transpose  dj  to 
stand  before  nyj,  and  for  -\\yi  read  ;;ir-\.  —  %  Bi.  omit  the  second  dn. — S2C 
refer  "}'  to  "i;'j,  and  ■^z'^<  to  iS>'2,  which  does  not  relieve  the  syntactical  difficulty. 

12-14.   Man's  faculties  the  gift  of  God.     Industry,  honesty. 

12.  The  hearing  ear,  the  seeing  eye  — 
Yahweh  has  made  them  both. 

13.  Love  not  sleep,  lest  thou  come  to  poverty; 

Open  thine  eyes,  and  thou  wilt  have  plenty  of  bread. 

14.  "  Bad,  bad  !  "  says  the  buyer; 

But  when  he  is  gone,  then  he  boasts. 

12.  Continuous,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary.  Hearing  and 
si'g/it  here  stand  for  all  man's  faculties  —  all,  says  the  proverb,  are 
the  creation  and  gift  of  God.  The  .suggestion  is  that  he  is  greater 
than  they,  that  he  watches  them,  and  that  they  must  be  used  in 
obedience  to  him.  Cf.  ij/  94^.  — 13.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit. 
open  .  .  .  have  plenty  (or,  be  sated  with),  two  Imperatives,  the 
first  stating  the  condition,  the  second  stating  the  result  —  a  com- 
mon construction  in  Hebrew.  —  Instead  of  bread  we  may  %z.y  food; 
the  same  term  means  for  the  pastoral  Arabs  meat,  and  for  the 
agricultural  Hebrews  bread.  — 14.  Continuous,  quaternary-ter- 
nary. A  trick  of  trade.  The  purchaser  disparages  the  ware, 
beats  down  the  seller,  and  boasts  of  his  cleverness. 

15-18.  Wisdom,  fraud. 

15.  Store  of  gold  and  wealth  of  corals 

And  precious  vessels —  (all  this)  are  wise  lips. 

16.  Take  his  garment  —  he  is  surety  for  another! 
For  another  hold  him  in  pledge  ! 

17.  Sweet  to  a  man  is  bread  gained  by  fraud. 

But  afterwards  his  mouth  will  be  filled  with  gravel. 

18.  i  Arrange  >  thy  plans  by  counsel, 
Carry  on  war  under  advice. 

15.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Wealth  is  abundance  ;  tvise  lips  is 
lit.  lips  of  knowledge  ;  the  Heb.  has  sing,  a  precious  vessel.  The 
syntactical  order  is  not  certain,  but  the  translation  here  given,  in 
which  the  three  first  expressions  all  describe  wise  lips,  is  the  most 
natural.     The  couplet  is  sometimes  rendered  in  antithetic  form : 


XX.  12-18  '  389 

store  etc    hut  (or,  yct^  lips  of  knotvkdge  are  a  precious  vessel,  but 
this  leaves  first  cl.  syntactically  suspended,  and  the  resultant  sense 
either  suggests  that  a  precious  vessel  is  more  valuable  than  gold 
and  corals  ("gold  etc.  is  valuable,  get  wise  hps"  etc.),  or  puts 
wisdom  and  gold  together  as  similar  values   ("gold  etc.  is  valu- 
able, and  wise  lips  [also]  are  valuable")  ;   neither  of  these  state- 
ments is  probable.      Most  expositors  render  :   there  is  gold  etc., 
hut  lips  of  knowledge  are  a  precious  vessel  (or,  je7uel).      In  this 
translation  the  antithetic  form  makes  a  difficulty,  as  above,  and 
the  expression  "  there  is  gold  etc."  is,  in  the  connection,  strange, 
feeble     and   syntactically   loose.      Possibly    the   text    should   be 
changed  so  as  to  give  a  comparison  like  those  of  S"''^  8".-0n 
corals  (RV.  ruhies,  or  corals,  or  pearls)  see  note  on  3  .     Vessels 
are  articles  of  household  furniture,  sometimes  made  of  precious 
metals,  sometimes  ornamented  with   precious  stones  (see  Gen. 
24^^  Ex  3--  31^-^)  ;    the  Heb.  word  is  also  used  for  articles  of  per- 
sonal adornment,  as  of  a  bride  (Isa.  61'"),  comprising  jewels  and 
similar   ornaments.  — 16.    Synonymous,    ternary.      Lit.  for    (or, 
when)  he  is  suret^'  etc. ;   in  second  cl.  the  Heb.  text  has  plu. 
others  (or,  strangers),  the  margin  fern.  sing,  a   strange  woman 
(= -another  man's  wife");   the  latter  reading  is  less  probable 
from   the   parallelism,  which   also  favors   masc.  singular.  —  The 
couplet  (which  occurs  again  in  27^'^)  is  an  exclamation  of  con- 
temptuous  rebuke:    "he   has   been   foohsh  enough  to   become 
responsible  for  another  man's  debt -hold  him  to  account,  exact 
the  le-al  penalty  ! "      The  garment,  commonly  given  as  security 
(Dt   2V°-'^0    could  be  taken  by  the  creditor  if  the  debt  was  not 
paid  -  In  second  cl.  we  should  perhaps  translate  :   hold  it  (the 
garment),  for,  though  the  person  might  be  pledged  for  debt  (Neh. 
c^)    the  reference,  as  first  cl.  suggests,  is  rather  to  the  garment; 
hold  him  in  pledge  may,  however,  be  understood  to  mean  not 
-hold  his  person  as  security,"  but  "  hold  him  to  account  as  secu- 
j.ity"_On  the  Vtxm  another  see  note  on  2"''.  — 17.   Antithetic, 
ternary      Lit.  bread  of  fraud  (or,  deceit).     Gravel  is  a  mass  ot 
small  particles  (Lam.  3'^^,  here  perhaps  earth  or  sand.      Pleasure 
fraudulently  gained,  says  the  couplet,  is  not  lasting;   of   10   23' 
Job  20^2-^«  —18.    Synonymous,  ternary.     The  necessity  of  consul- 
tation and  deliberation  in  all  proceedings  ;  the  thought  is  substan- 


390  '  PROVERBS 

tially  identical  with  that  of  24®.  Counsel  is  the  advice  of  wise 
persons.  The  first  cl.  in  the  Heb.  is  declarative  :  plans  are 
arranged  by  counsel,  to  the  form  of  which  the  second  cl.  may  be 
assimilated  by  reading  :  and  by  (or,  tinder^  advice  war  is  carried 
on.  But  it  is  better  to  understand  the  couplet  as  an  injunction, 
and  assimilate  first  cl.  to  second  cl.,  with  the  sense  :  "  when  thou 
formest  plans  or  carriest  on  war,  do  it  under  skilful  guidance  " 
(with  the  advice  of  able  counsellors,  statesmen,  and  generals). 
In  any  case  war  is  spoken  of  as  a  common  incident  of  life  ;  nothing 
is  said  of  its  moral  accompaniments  or  its  desirableness  or  unde- 
sirableness.  Cf.  21''^  24^  Ecc.  -^  Lu.  14^',  There  seems  to  be  no 
ground  for  taking  war  to  refer  to  the  common  affairs  of  life,  such 
as  legal  processes,  and  similar  conflicts  (Frank.)  ;  in  the  Psalms 
(27^  35^  120^  al.)  terms  relating  to  war  are  doubtless  sometimes  to 
be  understood  figuratively,  but  such  can  hardly  be  the  sense  here. 
On  plans  and  direction  see  notes  on  6^^  i^. 

19-21.   Gossip,  filial  impiety,  unjust  acquisition, 

19.  A  talebearer  reveals  secrets  — 
Have  nothing  to  do  with  a  gossip. 

20.  He  who  curses  father  or  mother, 

His  lamp  will  go  out  in  midnight  darkness. 

21.  Property  got  prematurely  at  first 
Will  in  the  end  not  be  blessed. 

19.  Developed  thought,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary.  On 
the  terms  in  first  cl.  see  the  substantially  identical  first  cl.  of  11'^. 
—  Gossip  is  lit.  one  who  opens  wide  his  lips,  as  in  13''  (where,  how- 
ever, the  Heb.  verb  is  different)  ;  the  Heb.  expression  would  ordi- 
narily mean  foolish  of  lips,  which  might  possibly  be  understood  as 
=  "  gossip,"  but  it  is  easier  to  take  the  Partcp.  in  the  sense  of 
"  opening,"  or  else  change  the  text.  Luther  false  mouth  and  AV. 
hitn  that flattereth  (marg.  enticeth)  with  his  lips  are  incorrect ;  RV, 
openeth  wide  his  lips.  —  20.  Single  sentence,  ternary  or  ternary- 
quaternary.  In  the  old  law  the  punishment  for  cursing  a  parent  is 
death  (Ex.  21^'  Lev.  20^,  and  cf.  Dt.  27^") ;  the  reference  here  is  to 
the  natural  consequences  of  barbarous  impiety  (so  30'')  ;  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  old  law  was  in  force  in  later  times  —  the  punish- 
ment for  the  offence  in  question  was  rather  social,  as  now,  and  such 


XX.  I8-2I  39' 

is  the  point  of  view  of  the  Wisdom-books  ;   cf.  BS.  s'\  and  see  in 
BS   (y-**)  the  moral  motive  urged  for  honoring  parents  (another 
motive  is  given  in  Ex.  20^^).      The  old  legal  control  of  children 
was  gradually  replaced  by  the  control  of  the  family  and  of  society. 
—  Midnight  darkness  is  lit.  tlie  pupil  of  darkness,  =  deepest  dark- 
ness; on  //////  (of  the  eye)  see  note  on  7-  ^     On  the  meaning  of 
the  expression  his  lamp  will  go  out  see  note  on  1 31  —  21.   Single 
sentence,  ternary,  or  ternary-binary.     Instead  of  property,  we  may 
render   inheritance,   property  which   comes   to   one   from   one's 
father  (cf.   if  19")  ;    the  more  general  reference  is  the  more 
probable.      Got  prematurely  (one  word  in  the  Heb.)  is  the  read- 
ing of  the  Heb.  margin,  which  is  adopted  by  most  recent  expos- 
itors ;    the  verb   means  to  act  hastily,  precipitately,  and  (if  this 
reading  be  accepted)  the  suggestion  here  is  that  the  man  accu- 
,mulates  wealth  unfairly  (or  that  the  heir  does  not  wait  to  receive 
his  inheritance  in  due  course  of  nature,  but  obtains  it  prematurely, 
by  foul  means) ;  no  blessing,  the  proverb  declares,  will  attend  prop- 
erty so  acquired.    Saadia,  referring  the  couplet  to  the  impious  son 
of  the  preceding  couplet :   his  inheritance  will  be  full  of  trouble. 
The  meaning  of  the  verb  of  the  Heb.  text  is  doubtful :    Schult. : 
(an  inheritance  on  which)  rests  the  curse  of  niggardliness;  Ew. :  is 
cursed;  <^t\gtx  :  full  grown  ;  modern  lexicons  :  is  loathed,  disgust- 
ing, abominable  (cf.  Zech.  ii«),  that  is  (if  this  reading  be  here 
adopted),  because  obtained  by  foul  means.      The  margmal  read- 
ing here  adopted,  which  is  that  of  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  appears  to  yield 
the  more  satisfactory  sense.  — //^  the  end  refers  to  the  final  out- 
come of  the  man's  wealth  (see  note  on  5^),  perhaps  with  conno- 
tation of  divine  retribution. 

13  ■%  nrr;  (5  KaTO.\o.\eiv,  for  which  Jag.  compares  \f  BS.  19^  Lag. 
refers  to  f  Voi^,  where  k.  =  a  form  of  the  stem  l--.-|^  ^'^^  ^^  ^y  """"^ 
derived  from  t-v,  and  =  shall  be  expelled  (or,  deprived),  by  others  taken  as 
metaplastic  formation  from  v^  to  he  poor;  better,  perhaps,  as  Hof.  of  z^ 
14  >  is  reference  of  the  action  to  the  personality  of  the  grammatical  subject, 
the  so-called  ethical  Dative.-?^  Ns;  Gr.  -rx.  =  s,n  bought  cheap,  from  -1T. 
_V  14-19  are  wanting  in  (5;  they  are  supplied,  from  9,  m  S«  23.  I49-  253- 
260  "  The  omission  is  probably  connected  with  the  fact  that  our  v.^^--^  are 
placed  after  our  v.^,  but  the  origin  of  the  change  is  uncertain;  there  is  nothing 
in  v.i*-i9  to  cast  doubt  on  their  genuineness.  — 15.  "^  3-ir  -;,  Gr.  'ir  -iP'.  Un 
^>  see  note  on  S'^^;   it  is  better  to  take  it  here  as  noun,  but  it  is  possible  to 


392  PROVERBS 

understand  it  as  verb.  — 16.  The  Impv.  np*?  is  found  elsewhere  only  Ex.  29^ 
Ez.  37^^.  —  ?^  It;  Gr.  ti^,  as  in  6^,  which  is  allowable,  but  apparently  not 
necessary;  for  noun  without  Prep,  after  3^y  see  ii^^  271^.  —  K  anoj,  Q  nnDj; 
read  sing.  masc.  ^-i3J.  —  in'?2n  might,  so  far  as  its  form  is  concerned,  be  Impv. 
or  Perf.;  the  latter  would  be  possible  only  in  the  sense  he  has  pledged  (paral- 
lel to  yyp),  which  does  not  elsewhere  occur;  as  Impv.  it  is  to  be  taken  as 
Qal,  not  as  Piel  (Konig),  which  vfOvXA^^  injure.  — 17.  |^  "inN;  Gr.  \"nnx 
(see  23^^),  unnecessary.  — 18.  For  f^  Impv.  r\-v^  we  might,  to  secure  com- 
pleter parallelism,  read  Infin.  (so  Bi.),  or  Nif.  Impf.  (so  apparently  S^TIL), 
but  it  is  better  to  change  pj  pri  to  Hif.  Impv.  J3^.  — 19.  ?^  ^"^P',  ®  jjt^'D 
entices,  ^=Y\A  of  nns,  here  hardly  appropriate;  9,  similarly,  dTrciTtDi'Tt; 
S  pn-iDD  /zaj/^«,  perhaps  free  rendering,  =  o/f«  wide;  IL  dilatat.  — 1§  can 
mean  only  foolish  (of  lips),  and  this  sense  is  here  possible.  If  the  text  be 
changed,  we  should  take  not  nns  (which  is  used,  in  connection  with  lips,  only 
in  a  general  sense,  of  speech,  never  in  a  bad  sense)  but  pz's,  as  in  13^  (so  Gr.). 
—  20.  K  j^r^N;  Q  JVC's,  a  word  of  doubtful  meaning,  rendered  in  ST  by  the 
equally  doubtful  njipn,  on  which  see  De.  and  Levy,  Chald.  VVbch.  ;  the  other 
Vrss.  render  Kethib.  Instead  of  Prep.  3  (of  f^)  Si^T  read  ?,  which  suits  the 
connection  less  well. — 21.  K  n'^n^c,  Q  n'^n^c.  Schult.  explains  ^r^2  as 
=  Arab.  ^r\2  avaricious,  Ew.  as  Sna  curse,  the  Lexicons  as  =  Syr.  ^n^,  which 
is  appropriate  in  Zech.  11^,  but  not  here.  Read  Qeri.  Ew.  adopts  curse 
as  antithesis  of  the  bless  of  •>,  but  the  contrast  thus  gained  is  not  satisfactory  — 
we  rather  expect  in  *  an  explanation  of  why  the  property  is  not  blessed.  — 
For  MSS.  and  edd.  which  give  the  Qeri  see  De'  Rossi. 

22-24.   God's  control  of  life. 

22.  Say  not :  "  I  will  take  revenge  for  wrong  "; 
Trust  to  Yahweh,  and  he  will  save  thee. 

23.  Divers  weights  are  an  abomination  to  Yahweh, 
And  a  false  balance  is  not  good. 

24.  A  man's  steps  are  ordered  by  Yahweh; 
How,  then,  can  man  understand  his  way? 

22.  Sentence  with  implied  antithesis,  ternary,  or  binary-ternary. 
The  same  injunction  is  given  in  24^,  and  is  implied  in  25-^ ;  so,  in 
NT.,  I  Th.  5"  Rom.  12'^  i  Pet.  3^  cf.  Heb.  10^''.  It  is  the  pro- 
test which  the  advancing  moral  feeling  made  against  the  prevalent 
principle  of  retaliation  ;  see  note  on  24^^  —  The  ground  or  motive 
adduced  in  second  cl.  appears  to  be  simply  that  God  will  deliver 
his  servants  from  the  machinations  and  injuries  of  enemies  (so 
De.),  there  being  no  reference  to  revenge,  an  interpretation  which 
is  favored  by  24'^  God  is  thus  represented  not  as  avenging,  but  as 
saving.     The  conception  of  Yahweh's  vengeance  on  enemies  in 


XX.  22-25  393 

Dt.  32^  (quoted  in  Rom.  12'°  Heb.  10''-)  does  not  refer  to  private 
relations  between  man  and  man.  —  Take  revenge  for  wrong  is  lit. 
repay  evil,  that  is,  with  evil ;  trust  to  is  hope  in,  wait  on,  that  is, 
confide  a  matter  to  God,  wait  for  him  to  act.  —  For  similar  sayings 
among  other  peoples  see  Malan. — 23.  Synonymous,  ternary.  See 
v.'"  and  1 1\  —  24.  Continuous,  with  implied  antithesis,  ternary.  See 
3''  16^  ■'  19-'  Jer.  10-^.  Since,  says  the  proverb,  human  life  is  con- 
trolled by  God  [a  principle  which  is  a  necessary  inference  from  the 
doctrine  of  divine  omnipotence],  it  is  obvious  [as  Jeremiah  had 
already  affirmed]  that  no  man  can  comprehend  fully  the  meaning 
of  his  own  experiences.  The  suggestion  is  that  man  must  throw 
himself  on  God,  acknowledge,  obey  and  trust  him  (v.--  ■^)  —  then 
his  life  will  be  rationally  and  successfully  directed.  Exactly  how 
this  reliance  on  God  is  to  be  reached  our  couplet  does  not  say ; 
there  is  no  mention  of  written  law,  of  Tora  or  Prophets  (though 
these  a  pious  Jew  would  naturally  have  in  mind)  — here,  as  else- 
where in  Proverbs,  the  sage  rests  on  the  conscience  enlightened 
by  all  available  means.  —  If,  in  the  second  line,  we  emend  under- 
stand to  order,  the  meaning  of  the  couplet  remains  the  same.  — 
This  Division  of  the  Book  is  thus  at  one  with  the  first  Division  in 
the  recognition  of  absolute  divine  sovereignty,  and  no  attempt  is 
made  to  reconcile  this  belief  with  the  belief  (held  with  equal  dis- 
tinctness) in  human  freedom.  —  The  first  cl.  is  nearly  identical 
with  first  cl.  of  \^  37^^,  and  is  perhaps  taken  from  it  (though  the 
sentence  may  have  been  a  commonplace  of  religious  thought)  ; 
but,  while  the  psalmist  uses  it  to  point  out  that  a  good  man  will 
be  upheld  by  God,  to  the  sage  it  suggests  the  limitations  of 
human  knowledge  (and  so,  it  may  be  inferred,  the  necessity  of 
intellectual  and  moral  humility  and  reverence)  ;  the  former  is 
national-rehgious,  the  latter  is  philosophical-religious. 

25.  Text  and  translation  are  uncertain.  Our  Heb.  may  be  ren- 
dered :  //  is  a  snare  to  a  man  ivhen  he  rashly  says  "  sacj-ed/'^ 
and  after  vows  to  make  seairh,  that  is,  perhaps,  to  try  to  avoid 
payment.  To  declare  a  thing  sacred  (or,  holy)  was  to  renounce 
ownership  in  it  (for  ever,  or  for  a  time),  and  make  it  the  property 
of  the  Temple  (Lev.  27).  The  Heb.  is  not  syntactically  or  logic- 
ally glear  :    the  snare  (or,  danger)  to  the  man  is  expressed  in  the 


394  PROVERBS 

first  line  only ;  the  second  line  appears  to  give  the  ground  of  this 
statement,  that  is,  the  nature  of  the  danger ;  and  the  word  ren- 
dered rashly  says  is  doubtful.  The  Grk.  is  clearer  :  it  is  a  snare 
to  a  7>ian  hastily  to  consecrate  property,  for  after  {such)  vowing 
comes  repentance ;  this  may  be  a  free  rendering  of  our  Heb.,  or 
may  represent  a  different  text.  —  The  precise  meaning  of  the 
expression  make  search  is  not  certain.  Elsewhere  in  O  T.  it  signi- 
fies look  after,  look  for,  seek  out  (Ez.  34"' ^",  of  lost  sheep;  Lev. 
13''^,  of  signs  of  leprosy  on  the  skin),  or  make  inquiry  (Lev.  27^, 
of  inquiring  and  distinguishing  between  good  and  bad  parts  of  the 
tithe),  and  perhaps  inquire  of  an  oracle  (2  K.  16^^  \\i  27'*,  though 
the  reading  in  these  passages  is  doubtful)  ;  for  the  rendering 
reflect  on  there  is  no  authority,  and  the  sense  make  a  selection, 
=  "  endeavor  to  substitute  a  less  valuable  thing  for  the  thing 
vowed"  (Frank.,  who  refers  to  the  expression  in  Lev.  27^: 
inquire  between  good  and  bad)  is  hardly  here  appropriate,  since 
there  is  no  question  of  choosing  particular  objects  out  of  a  mass 
(as  was  true  in  the  case  of  tithes).  The  more  natural  sense 
appears  to  be  :  "  make  inquiry  into  one's  affairs  or  into  the  terms 
of  the  vow,  so  as  to  escape  payment."  The  couplet  may  be  con- 
jecturally  rendered: 

It  is  dangerous  for  a  man  hastily  to  consecrate  property, 
For,  after  vowing,  he  begins  to  make  inquiry. 

Under  some  sudden  impulse,  good  or  bad,  men  would  sometimes 
make  gifts  which  they  afterwards  regretted  :  they  would  see  (as 
sometimes  happens  now  to  those  who  make  religious  or  charitable 
donations)  that  they  had  given  beyond  their  means,  or  had  been 
unjust  to  other  obligations,  or,  when  the  motive  was  one  of  selfish 
personal  interest,  that  they  had  failed  to  gain  their  ends.  Such  a 
procedure  the  proverb  declares  to  be  a  S7iare  as  leading  into  diffi- 
culties financial  and  moral  ;  in  like  manner  Koheleth  (Ecc. 
22.4-6(1.3-0)^  ridicules  hasty  vows,  when  a  man,  called  on  to  pay 
(for  rates  of  redemption  see  Lev.  27),  has  to  say  lamely  to  the 
Temple  collector  that  he  made  a  mistake.  Against  this  thought- 
less, immoral  habit  of  giving  to  religious  objects  the  sages  protest ; 
a  similar  evil  is  rebuked  in  Mk.  7-^  where,  however,  the  gift 
{corban)  is  made  advisedly,  and  for  a  bad  purpose.     On  vows 


XX.  25-26,  28  395 

see  note  on  7".  The  renderings  to  devour  holy  things  (which 
were  lawful  only  for  sacred  persons),  zx\^  destroy  holy  things  are 
improbable.  Saadia,  who  has  the  first  of  these,  explains  the 
search  of  second  cl.  as  referring  to  attempts  to  get  possession  of 
property  consecrated  by  others,  or  to  avoid  paying  one's  own 
vows.      Cf.  the  Talmud  tract  Nedarini   [Vows]   21a. 

26,28.  The  ideal  king  is  just  and  kind.  —  The  two  apho- 
risms, by  their  contents,  belong  together. 

26.    A  wise  king  winnows  the  wicked, 

And  passes  the  wheel  over  them. 
28.    Kindness  and  truth  guard  the  king, 

And  by  4  justice  >  his  throne  is  sustained. 

26.  Synonymous,  quaternary-ternary.  On  first  cl.  see  note  on 
v.^ ;  here  the  king  is  described  as  wise,  and  it  is  the  persons,  the 
wicked,  who  are  winnowed,  sifted,  disposed  of.  The  wheel  i?,  that 
not  of  fortune,  but  of  the  threshing-cart  (Isa.  28-^-^*),  which  sepa- 
rated the  grain  from  the  straw,*  and  there  is  also  the  implication 
of  destructive  or  serious  punishment ;  the  winnowing  proper  was 
done  with  fork  and  shovel  (Isa.  30-^  Jer.  15^).  In  Am.  i^  the 
devastation  of  the  Syrian  invasion  is  compared  to  the  crushing 
power  of  the  threshing-sledge  —  it  was  the  custom  of  war  of  the 
time.f  A  slight  change  in  second  cl.  gives  the  reading  :  and 
repays  them  their  iniquity.  Cf.  Isa.  11*.  —  28.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. On  kindness  and  truth  see  notes  on  3^,  and  cf.  11^''  14^ 
16".  Truth  involves  faithfulness  to  all  obligations;  kindness  is 
not  merely  mercy  (=  compassion  or  clemency),  but  general 
benevolence.  The  combination  of  the  two  terms  (frequent  in 
OT.)  gives  an  expression  of  high  and  attractive  moral  character. 
The  two  are  applied  to  a  king  in  Isa.  16^;  in  the  Prophetic  por- 
traitures of  the  ideal  king  it  is  more  commonly  justice  that  is 
emphasized  (Isa.  11*  ;//  72-  Zech.  g'-*).  —  In  second  cl.  the  Heb. 
reads  lit.  :  and  he  sustains  (or,  supports,  or  upholds')  his  throne  by 
kindness.     The  repetition  of  only  one  of  the  two  qualities  men- 

*  See  Nowack,  Arch.  I.  ^^  41. 

t  On  the  interpretation  of  2  Sam.  I23l  see  Hoffmann,  ZA  W.  1882  (in  which  it  is 
maintained  that  David  did  not  torture  the  Ammonites,  but  only  set  them  to  work), 
Stade,  GVI.  I.  278,  Driver,  Samuel,  and  cf.  Geier's  note. 


39^  PROVERBS 

tioned  in  first  cl.  is  strange,  and  the  substitution,  in  the  Grk.,  of 
the  other  quahty  which  should  characterize  royal  administration  is 
probably  right. 

27.   Conscience  is  God's  search-light. 

The  spirit  of  man  is  the  lamp  of  Yahweh, 
Searching  all  the  chambers  of  the  soul. 

Single  sentence,  ternary-binary.  The  spirit  is  the  breath  (Heb. 
neshama)  which  is  breathed  into  the  body  by  God  (as  in  Gen. 
2^^),  whereby  man  becomes  a  "living  sorul,"  that  is,  a  complete 
living  person.  The  OT.  conception  appears  to  be  that  into  every 
human  body,  as  soon  as  it  is  formed,  there  is  introduced  a  new 
"  breath,"  which  is  the  inward  moral  and  intellectual  being  *  ;  but 
there  is  no  theory  of  preexistence  of  souls,  such  as  is  found  in 
Wisd.  Sol.  8^. — The  spirit  is  here  man's  moral  and  intellectual 
perception,  the  conscience,  represented  as  the  critic  of  the  moral 
life,  and  therefore  the  search-light  of  God,  who  is  the  supreme 
and  final  critic ;  the  presupposition  is  that  the  conscience  is  not 
only  the  creation  of  God,  but  also  morally  identical  with  him.  — 
On  chambers  (fully  secret  chambers)  see  i8*;  soul  (lit.  interior, 
ox  belly,  as  in  i8*,  cf.  Job  32^'^)  =  the  whole  inward  being,  here 
especially  the  moral  nature.  Though,  in  the  expression  "  the 
spirit  searches  the  soul,"  there  is  a  formal  antithesis  of  "spirit" 
and  "soul,"  the  two  terms  are  really  equivalent  each  to  the  other, 
as  in  our  expression  "  the  conscience  judges  the  soul "  ;  but  the 
former  denotes  the  moral  nature  in  its  capacity  of  judge,  with  ref- 
erence to  the  moral  ideal,  while  the  latter  exhibits  it  on  the  side 
of  its  actual  life.  —  Cf.  i  Cor.  2^°.  —  The  rendering  the  light  of 
Yahweh  searches  the  spijit  of  man  and  all  etc.  (Gratz)  is  rhyth- 
mically unsatisfactory. 

29.   Strength  in  youth,  wisdom  in  old  age. 

The  glory  of  young  men  is  their  strength, 
The  beauty  of  the  old  is  the  hoary  head. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Glory  =  beauty,  =  adornment,  that  which 
constitutes  the  highest  attraction,  and  is  thus  an  indication  of  per- 

*  Cf.  the  later  theory  of  creatianism,  as  opposed  to  traducianism. 


XX.  28,  27,  29-30  397 

fectness.  The  proverb  must  be  understood  as  giving  one  aspect 
of  things  :  what  is  most  characteristic,  attractive,  and  admirable  is, 
in  the  young  (persons  in  the  prime  of  hfe),  physical  strength  and 
exuberant  animal  life,  in  the  old,  gray  hair  regarded  as  the  indica- 
tion of  gravity  and  wisdom ;  the  sage  would  doubtless  hold  that  a 
young  man  should  have  something  more  than  bodily  vigor,  and 
an  old  man  more  than  wisdom.  Cf.  i6^\  and  the  references 
there  given. 

30.  Text  and  translation  are  uncertain.  The  Heb.  may  be  ren- 
dered :  "  wounds  from  stripes  [RV. :  stripes  that  wound]  cleanse 
away  evil  (or,  cleanse  the  bad  man),  and  blows  (cleanse)  the 
inward  parts  (or,  and  reach  the  inward  parts,  or,  and  blows  which 
reach  the  inward  parts)."  —  Grk.  (with  different  text)  :  blows  and 
contusions  befall  bad  men,  and  stripes  (penetrate)  itito  the  inward 
parts;  Lat.  (followed  by  AV.)  :  the  blueness  (or,  bruise^  of  a 
wound  cleanses  away  evil  things  ;  Rashi :  bruises  and  wounds  are 
remedies  [lit.  abstergents]  for  evil,  and  blows  {entering  into)  the 
inward  parts.  Modern  expositors  *  generally  adopt  Rashi's  ren- 
dering. In  second  cl,  De.  translates  :  and  reach  the  inward  parts 
(Partcp.  striking,  reaching  instead  of  Subst.  blows)  ;  RV. :  and 
strokes  {reach)  etc»  —  The  thought  of  the  proverb  appears  to  be 
(cf.  17'")  that  moral  evil  must  be  put  away  by  severe  chastisement. 
The  word  in  first  cl.  representing  "cleansing"  occurs  as  noun  in 
Esth.  2'^-^-^-  in  the  sense  of  "  cosmetics  "  (applications  to  the  skin) 
for  women  of  a  harem,  and  as  verb  in  Jer.  46*  Lev.  6-**^''  2  Chr.  4^" 
in  the  sense  of  "furbish"  (of  weapons  and  vessels).  The  text 
appears  to  be  in  bad  condition,  and  we  should,  perhaps,  adopt 
the  reading  of  the  Grk.,  or  emend  so  as  to  read  :  Stripes  cleanse 
the  body,  and  blows  the  inivaid  parts,  in  which  body  and  inward 
parts  may  both  refer  to  the  moral  being,  or  the  first  term  may  be 
taken  literally,  and  the  second  as  =  soul ;  or,  since  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  stripes  (or  bruises)  cleanse  the  body,  we  may 
read  :  Cosmetics  purify  the  body,  and  blotvs  the  soul. 

24.  Instead  of  p^  several  MSS.  (and  so  S)  have  ja^  (cf.  -^  37^^),  which 
also  gives  a  good  sense.  —  25.  |§  "'^•'  may  be  Impf.  of  i"'*?  or  j.M^  or  n;'*^,  or 
Perf.  or  Impf.  of  •;''\     Lag.  identifies  the  stem  with  Arab,  y^i  IV.,  =  incite, 

*  Geier,  Schult.  Mich.  Reuss,  Zock.  Noyes,  Kamp.  al. 


398  PROVERBS 

and  so,  hasten,  and  he  would  then  point  the  following  word  ttnp;  the  two 
words,  he  observes,  would  thus  be  correctly  rendered  by  (§  ra.xi  .  .  .  ayiaffai. 
Another  proposed  derivation  (De.)  is  from  ny^,  =  Arab,  r.j-',  speak  carelessly 
(cf.  \i'->  pc"!,  a  vow  made  lightly') ;  •;'^^  may  thus  be  taken  as  Impf.  of  >'>''?  or 
yiS,  =  "that  he  should  lightly  say":  cf.  Job  6^  (in  Obad.  i6  some  form  of 
j?S:3  should  perhaps  be  read).  —  (5  may  =  U'tp-'  '?n3  (Frank.).  —  2b  t^:  voxv, 
free  rendering,  or  guess  based  on  ^■,  %  devorai-e,  =  ■;'^i.  — 1[§  ip^;  (@,  well, 
/xeravoeiv.  —  Gr.  reads  ]';"'  and  nnx,  procrastinate  in  paying  one's  vows. — 
28.  1^  ]3N;  Gr.  Dis  (and  requites  them  for)  their  iniquity  {^  94^^). — 
27.  1^  "'p.;  (§  0<2s,  =  -ij  or  is,  or  is  perhaps  free  rendering  of  |^.  —  Clem. 
Al.  221*^  TTvevfMa  Kvpiov  Xi/x^os  epevvwv  rb,  Ta/ieXa  ttjs  ya<TTp6s,  affected  by 
I  Cor.  2^'^.  —  28.  PJ  irD,  the  subj.  being  the  iS;:;  Nif.,  Pcrf.  or  Impf.,  would 
perhaps  be  better  (though  Nif.  does  not  occur  elsewhere).  —  30.  K  pnDr, 
Q  pnrDr,  3  sing.  fem.  of  Hif.  and  Qal,  or  two  nouns;  (@  (rwavrq.,  =  nnpn 
(Lag.),  or  njnpn  (Frank.),  or,  less  probably,  a^npn  (Gr.).  —  |fc]  >na;  Kamp. 
jJir.  —  1^  ni-i3n  and  i'i'.?  are  synonyms  (Ex.  21-^  Isa.  i*^),  and  the  latter  should 
perhaps  be  omitted  as  gloss.  For  ^  ■;-\2  we  may  read  it;'a;  better  perhaps: 
•\t'2  p-ipn  njn;   for  Hif.  of  -no  see  Jer.  4"  51". 


XXI.  1-3.   God's  control  of  men. 

1.  Like  watercourses  is  a  king's  heart  in  the  hands  of  Yahweh  — 
Whither  he  will  he  turns  it. 

2.  All  that  a  man  does  he  thinks  right. 
But  Yahweh  tries  the  heart. 

3.  To  do  justice  and  equity 

Is  more  acceptable  to  Yahweh  than  sacrifice. 

1.  Comparison  with  explanation,  ternary.  A  king  is  generally 
supposed  to  be  autocratic,  but  God,  the  proverb  declares,  con- 
trols even  his  decisions  and  actions.  Heart  =  mind.  The  pic- 
ture is  that  of  a  land  (as  Egypt  or  Babylonia,  but  not  Palestine), 
or  a  garden,  watered  by  canals  (cf.  5"^  Isa.  58"),  whose  flow  is  reg- 
ulated by  ofificers  or  gardeners  ;  in  the  fertilizing  water  there  may 
be  an  allusion  to  royal  deeds  of  kindness  (cf.  16'"'),  but  the  main 
reference  is  to  the  divine  control  of  kings.  Cf.  Tob.  i'^  Esth. 
(Grk.)  14'^  —  2.  Antithetic,  ternary.  See  note  on  16^,  with 
which  this  couplet  is  nearly  identical ;  cf.  i6^-^^  17^  Lit.  every 
ivay  of  a  man  is  light  in  his  eyes.  Tries  is  lit.  weighs  or  measures. 
—  3.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Cf.  v.^^  i5«  ^  40«^^>  ^^^^.vai.m 
Am.  5-^"^*  Isa.  i"  al.  (and  see  also  Hos.  6").     The  ethical  concep- 


XXI.  1-5  399 

tion  of  piety,  announced  by  the  prophets,  lost  none  of  its  force 
with  the  sages ;  see  BS.  34^^"*^  S5^'  ^• 

4.  Text  and  sense  doubtful. 

The  couplet  appears  to  contain  fragments  of  two  couplets. 
Lit. :  haughty  look  and  protid  heart  (or,  haughty  of  h>ok  and 
proud  of  heart)  — the  tillage  (or,  ploughing)  of  the  wicked  is  sin. 
This  may  be  understood  to  mean  that  pride,  which  is  the  industry 
or  occupation  of  the  wicked,  is  sin  ;  but  the  figure  is  strange  and 
forced.  In  Hos.  10^'  Jer.  4^  preparing  one's  heart  for  a  new  life 
is  called  "  breaking  up  the  fallow  ground  "  ;  so  here  in  second  cl. 
the  bad  man's  preparation  for  life  may  be  supposed  to  be  called 
sin,  but  this  is  not  a  probable  sense  —  the  meaning  is  rather  that 
his  life  itself  is  sin. — The  difficulty  is  not  diminished  if,  by  the 
change  of  a  vowel,  we  read  (with  Grk.  RV.)  Ia7fip  instead  of 
tillage ;  the  sentence  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  is  sin  conveys  no 
meaning;  cf.  13^,  where  the  figure  of  light  and  lamp  is  simple 
and  clear.  —  The  first  cl.  recalls  16^,  the  second  cl.  10^'*  13^  24'; 
new  couplets  might  be  conjecturally  constructed,  but  the  recovery 
of  the  precise  form  seems  impossible  ;  see  Lagarde  and  Wildeboer. 

5.  Industry  and  sloth.  —  Antithetic,  ternary.    The  Heb.  reads  : 

The  methods  of  the  industrious  lead  surely  to  gain, 
But  every  one  who  hastes  (hastes)  surely  to  want. 

Hastes  can  here  be  understood  to  mean  only  "  hastes  to  be  rich," 
as  in  13"  28-";  but  in  that  case  we  expect  the  term  to  be  defined, 
as  in  13'^  19-  28'-°  29-".  Hasty  (even  if  it  be  taken  to  mean 
"using  improper  methods")  is  not  a  proper  antithesis  to  indus- 
trious; we  rather  ex^^^ci  slothful,  as  in  13''  (so  the  Lat.).  The 
parallelism  also  suggests,  instead  of  every  one,  some  term  equiva- 
lent to  methods,  and  the  word  surely  (or,  only)  adds  nothing  to 
the  meaning.      We  may  thus  read  : 

The  methods  of  the  industrious  lead  to  gain, 
The  ways  of  the  slothful  to  want. 

J/<f//z<?(/i- =  thoughts,  reflections,  plans  (12*  15^  16'  20^*).  The 
couplet  is  an  exhortation  to  industry ;  so  10''  12",  cf.  6®""  24^"^. 


400  PROVERBS 

6-10.   The  way  of  the  wicked. 

The  acquisition  of  wealth  by  a  lying  tongue 
Is  a  fleeting  breath,  a  deadly  <  snare.' 

7.  The  violence  of  the  wicked  will  sweep  them  away 
Because  they  refuse  to  act  justly. 

8.  Crooked  is  the  way  of  the  vicious, 
But  the  conduct  of  the  pure  is  straight. 
It  is  better  to  dwell  in  the  corner  of  the  housetop 
Than  with  a  quarrelsome  woman  in  a  i  large '  house. 
The  wicked  desires  to  do  harm; 

He  has  no  kindly  feeling  toward  his  neighbor. 

6.  Single  sentence,  quaternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  Cf.  10^.  In 
first  cl.  acquisition  of  wealth  may  be  understood  as  =  wealth 
acquired.  Fleeting  breath  is  lit,  bi'eath  driven  (by  the  wind)  ;  cf. 
Isa.  19'  i/'  68"<''\  The  last  expression  of  second  cl.  stands  in  the 
Heb. :  seekers  of  death,  or  (by  a  shght  change  of  text)  the  sing, 
may  be  read  :  (the  acquisition  etc.)  is  a  fleeting  breath,  seeking 
death,  an  obscure  and  improbable  form.  The  reading  snare, 
instead  of  seekers,  comes  from  the  Greek,  which  has  :  he  who 
gains  ivealth  by  a  lying  tongue  pursues  vanities  to  (or,  ofi)  snares 
of  death.  —  7.  Single  sentence,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  For 
the  thought  cf.  i^''.  Violence  is  highhanded,  oppressive  conduct ;  see 
24^  (RV.  oppression).  Sweep  atvay,  =  "  take  away,  carry  off "  ;  see 
Hab.  i^^  (RV.  catcheth),  and  a  similar  verb  in  Ju.  5-^  The  instru- 
ment of  punishment  for  the  wicked  is  law,  divine  and  human. — 
8.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  word  here  translated  vicious  is  by 
some  rendered  sin-laden  (De.  RV.),  by  olhtr?,  false,  dishonoi-able 
(Barth),  or,  with  the  omission  of  a  letter,  proud  or  insolent 
(Gratz)  ;  the  general  sense  is  the  same  in  all  these  translations ; 
the  rhythm  appears  to  favor  the  last  (and  cf.  v.-^),  of  which 
vicious  is  a  synonym.  By  some  critics  the  word  is  regarded  as  a 
corrupt  form,  of  which  no  translation  is  possible.  —  The  second  cl. 
reads  lit.  :  but  the  pure,  straight  (=  upright)  is  his  conduct  (lit. 
doing  or  work).  —  The  sense  is  :  bad  men  are  underhand  in  their 
procedures,  good  men  are  straightforward  —  that  is,  no  man,  what- 
ever his  pretensions,  can  be  called  pure,  if  he  does  not  act 
uprightly. —  9.  Single  sentence,  ternary-quaternary.  The  couplet 
=  25^'';   cf.  19^^  21^^  27^^     Lit.:   better  the  dwelling  .  .  .  than  a 


XXI.  6-IO 


401 


quarrelsome  woman  etc.  It  was  customary  to  sleep  on  the  roof 
(so  Saul,  I  Sam.  9^^,  according  to  the  Grk.  and  RV.  marg.),  and 
there  a  simply-furnished  guest-room  might  be  built,  such  as  Elijah 
(i  K.  17^^)  and  Elisha  (2  K.  4'")  occupied;  but  to  live  always  in 
so  narrow  a  space  would  be  lonely  and  inconvenient. — The  sense 
large  (or,  wide)  is  obtained  by  transposition  of  letters ;  the  Heb. 
text  has  house  of  a  companion,  which  is  interpreted  to  mean  house 
of  society*  common  house,-\  or  house  in  cotnmon,  J  that  is,  a  house 
in  which  one  has  society ;  but  the  phrase  is  not  a  natural  one  — 
we  should  at  least  expect  the  plu.  companions ;  or  the  companion 
is  taken  to  be  the  wife,  the  man  being  thus  described  as  a  house- 
holder (Frank.),  an  interpretation  equally  difficult.  In  any  case, 
the  antithesis  in  first  cl.  is  "loneliness"  (cf.  i/^  102^)  and  discom- 
fort.—  The  woman  is  probably  the  wife,  but  any  woman,  as  a 
mother  or  a  sister,  may  be  meant.  —  Others  §  translate  :  it  is 
better  to  sit  on  the  pinnacle  etc.,  a  situation  of  danger  as  well  as  of 
inconvenience ;  but,  though  the  word  may  mean  corner-tower 
(Zeph.  i^^),  the  idea  of  danger  is  not  probable  —  the  point  is 
rather  the  discomfort  of  the  situation  :  rather  any  privation  with 
peace  than  luxury  with  strife.  —  The  Grk.,  with  a  different  text,  or 
else  moralizing,  has  unrighteousness  instead  of  a  quarrelsome 
woman.  — 10.  Synonymous,  ternary.  \JX.  the  soul  of  the  ivicked 
etc.,  and  his  neighbor  does  710 1  find  mercy  (or,  kindness)  in  his 
eyes.     Cf„  ^^^  id"'  12'"  Isa.  i^ 

XXI.  1.    pj  nin-   (5  6'eoC.  — PJ  '^;;   read,  with  Bi.,  Sn.  — (SiL  interpret  =■  as 
comparison  :   as  ...  so  ;  ^ST  have  only  as  ;  |^,  as  curter,  is  probably  original. 

—  2.  1^  12"';  Tosef.  Yebam.  i,  II,  1",  doubtless  scribal  variation,  after  16-, 
For  1^  jDh  Gr.  (as  in  16^)  reads  |n3,  but  unnecessarily,  since  'n  may  =  tries. 
p"i  (from  i^) ,  =fix  accurately,  determine,  and  so,  perhaps,  weigh.  —  3.  |^  nin^S ; 
(§  Trapa  ^ecj). — 4.  |§1J;  (SSEIL  "<i.  (SIL  make  ^  a  complete  sentence;  §M^, 
inserting  \  before  ij,  make  the  couplet  a  single  sentence;  Bi.  makes  *  an 
exclamation,  and  inserts  i  before  ij.  Possibly  some  such  word  as  nnr  (cf.  24^) 
should  be  substituted  for  nj.  —  5.  Wanting  in  (5;  eSi"  =  |l?.  —  ?^  T^  '^31; 
2C  and  the  foot  (as  if  it  read  '^Ji)  of  the  hasty  :  <S>  and  (those)  of  the  wicked, 
perh.  reading  y'2  (Pink.),  perh.  free  rendering  of  |ij;  IL  omnis  antem  piger, 
=  Sx;;  Sji.  —  Read  Ssj;  1311 ;  ^v;  is  read  by  Gr.  The  in  may  be  retained,  but 
is  unnecessary,  and  the  thought  is  better  without  it.  —  6.   (5  reads  Partcp.  Sj:s. 

—  ?^  IIJ;   (§  diwKei,  =  ffn  (Jag.).  —  |^  ^a'pniz;   (&  vayidas,  IL  laqneos,  =  iH'nb 

*  Schult.         t  Lat.  Ew.         J  De.  RV.  marg.         \  Mercer,  Geier,  De.  at. 


402  TROVERBS 

(so  Rashi,  Ew.  Hitz.  Reuss,  Kamp.  al.'),  obviously  to  be  preferred  to  |^.  —  ®'s 
form  of  the  couplet,  adopted  by  Bi.  Frank.,  is  not  clear.  —  7.  |^  a"]'r;  (S  eTri^evw- 
d-fi<r€Tai,  =  3-I1'  (Hitz.),  improbable.  —  8.  |§  ip,  ott.  Xe7.,  may  be  a  noun  of 
agency  from  a  stem  -in  (Capp.),  which  occurs  in  Arab,  in  the  sense  bear  a  bur- 
den, and  (as  denom.  from  wizr,  burden,  sin)  commit  sin  ;  it  would  then  mean 
not  sin-laden,  but  simply  sinner.  The  derivation  from  a  stem  in,  in  Arab.  = 
turn  aside,  be  false,  is  less  probable  (but  cf.  (!|  o-KoXtas  65oi>s).  SSCIL  foreign 
(it).  Gr.,  taking  the  i  to  be  scribal  insertion  from  following  -\v,  reads  it,  which 
also  gives  a  good  sense,  and  is  perhaps  preferable  to  |^.  —  9.  On  K  □''jnr, 
Q  3>j'ir,  see  note  on  6i*.  —  ^  -i3n  n^3  is  followed  by  (SS9IL;  2C  Npi'J '3  « 
closed  house,  free  contrast  to  "open  roof,"  perh.  after  (§  KeKoviajxivois;  &  omits. 
For  lan  read  3m  (so  Gr.). 

11.  How  simple  and  sage  are  taught. 

When  the  scoffer  is  punished,  the  simple  is  made  wise, 
When  the  wise  man  is  instructed,  he  receives  knowledge. 

Antithetic,  binary-ternary.  On  scoffo-  and  simple  see  notes  on 
i"^--^.  The  punishment  of  the  bad  man  is  a  warning  to  the 
morally  untrained,  who  is  too  unripe,  intellectually  and  morally,  to 
be  benefited  by  instruction  ;  the  wise  man,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
receptive  and  teachable.  Cf.  ip-'.  —  The  three  similar  terms  of 
second  cl.  are  here  employed  with  different  shades  of  meaning  : 
wise  denotes  general  comprehension  of  the  issues  and  needs  of 
life  ;  to  instruct  is  to  cause  to  know,  to  give  insight  into  practical 
truth ;  and  the  result  is  knowledge,  acquaintance  with  definite 
rules  of  conduct. 

12.  Text  and  translation  are  uncertain. 

The  Heb.  may  be  rendered  :  the  righteous  considers  the  house 
of  the  luicked  man,  overturns  the  wicked  to  misfortune  (or,  rui?i). 
As  the  Heb.  text  stands  the  subject  of  the  couplet  must  be  God, 
the  righteous  one  (so  most  recent  expositors,  and  RV.  marg.)  ;  a 
righteous  man  might  be  said  to  note  the  wicked,  but  could  not  be 
said  to  hurl  them  to  ruin ;  the  rendering  "  one  hurls  the  wicked 
etc.,"  =  "  the  wicked  are  hurled  "  (RV.  how  the  tvicked  are  over- 
thrown to  their  j-uin),  is  difficult  if  not  impossible,  and  the  same 
thing  is  true  of  the  interpretation  :  "the  righteous  man  notes  etc., 
he  (=  God)  hurls  etc.";  see  textual  note  on  lo-^  The  refer- 
ence to  God  is  favored  by  22^^,  in  which  it  is  said  that  Yahweh 
overthrows  (=  hurls  down)  the  affairs  (or,  words)  of  the  wicked. 


XXI.  II-I4  403 

—  On  the  other  hand,  the  designation  of  God  as  "a  (or,  the) 
righteous  one"*  occurs  nowhere  else  in  Proverbs,  and  elsewhere 
in  or.  only  in  Job  34'^  "  the  just-mighty  one,"  where  the  context 
makes  the  reference  obvious  and  natural ;  here,  on  the  contrary, 
the  word  is  isolated.!  —  The  Heb.  text  seems  not  to  be  in  its 
original  form.  Hitzig  emends  so  as  to  read  :  the  righteous  man 
considers  his  house,  but  wickedness  hurls  the  wicked  to  ruin  (cf. 
13"),  a  possible  sense  for  the  lines  separately,  but  giving  no 
natural  connection  between  them.  The  repetition  of  the  term 
wicked  is  strange  —  we  expect  a  contrast  in  the  lines,  such  as  Hit- 
zig gains,  or,  with  closer  connection  :  Yahweh  considers  the  right- 
eous, but  overthrows  the  house  of  the  tvicked ;  cf.  3"",  and  i//  41^'-'. 

—  Consider  (or,  note)  is  lit.  to  act  wisely  in  reference  to  a  thing, 
direct  one's  intelligence  to  it;  cf.  i//  41^'-'.  The  house  of  the 
wicked  is  his  household  or  family,  which  stands  for  his  social 
position.  On  hurls  (or,  overthrows)  see  13''  19^^  22'-.  Ruin  is  Ht. 
evil,  harm. 

13,  14.   Kindness  to  the  poor.     Bribery. 

13.  Whoso  closes  his  ears  to  the  cry  of  the  poor, 
He  also  shall  call  and  not  be  answered. 

14.  A  gift  in  secret  turns  away  anger, 

And  a  present  in  the  bosom  violent  wrath. 

13.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  The  poor  is  the  physically  needy. 
Also  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the  unkind  man  will  suffer  the  same 
fate  as  the  man  whom  he  neglects  ;  it  is  the  law  of  retaliation. 
He  will  call  not  to  God  (Targ.  Syr.),  but  to  his  fellow-men  ;  the 
statement  is  that  a  hardhearted  man  need  expect  no  sympathy  in 
his  misfortunes.  For  answered  we  may  write  heard  (RV.),  in  the 
sense  listened  to.  Cf.  BS.  4^"®  Jas.  2^^.  — 14.  Synonymous,  ter- 
nary. The  gift  and  the  present  are  bribes,  carried  by  the  briber 
in  his  bosom  and  given  /;/  secret ;   the  reference  is  to  dealing  with 

*  Delitzsch's  assertion  that  the  word,  being  without  the  Art.,  cannot  mean  "the 
righteous  one  "  is  disproved  by  Job  34^'. 

t  The  Anc.  Vrss.  all  understand  the  righteous  to  mean  righteous  man,  and  so 
the  body  of  interpreters  (except  Rashi)  up  to  De  Wette,  Fleisch.  Ew. ;  Raslii  refers 
it  to  God,  but  this  exegesis  of  his  has  no  great  weight,  for  the  reason  that  he 
habitually  introduces  references  to  divine  things  (God  and  the  Tora),  often  without 
ground.    "  God  "  is  supplied  as  subj.  of  second  cl.  by  AV.  Geier,  Mich.  Wordsw.  al. 


404  PROVERBS 

judges  and  other  great  men.  For  the  use  of  the  bosom  of  the 
dress  as  a  pocket  see  17--.  —  For  turns  away  some  Anc.  Vrss.* 
have  extinguishes  (RV.  pacifietJi),  a  probable  reading.  The  Grk. 
makes  second  cL  antithetic  :  he  who  withholds  a  gift  stirs  up  vio- 
lent wrath,  a  sense  good  in  itself,  but  less  probable  than  that  of 
the  Hebrew.  —  The  power  of  a  bribe  is  here  noted  simply  as  a 
fact.      Against  bribery  see  17^. 

15,  16.   Punishment  of  bad  men. 

15.  The  execution  of  justice  is  a  joy  to  the  righteous, 
But  destruction  to  evil-doers. 

16.  The  man  who  wanders  from  the  path  of  wisdom 
Will  rest  in  the  assembly  of  the  Shades. 

15.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  sense  is  :  to  those  who 
are  in  sympathy  with  what  is  good,  and  are  conscious  of  right- 
doing,  the  execution  of  justice  (by  courts  or  otherwise)  can  only 
be  a  source  of  satisfaction  (making  manifest  their  integrity),  while 
to  offenders  against  law  and  right  it  means  destruction.  Instead 
of  destruction  we  may  render  dismay,  terror,-\  which  furnishes  a 
more  direct  antithesis  to  the  Joy  of  first  clause ;  but  destruction  is 
the  meaning  of  the  Heb.  word  elsewhere  in  Pr.,  and  gives  an 
effective  heightening  of  the  thought.  —  The  subject  of  first  cl.  is 
lit.  to  do  Justice,  which  may  be  taken  to  mean  "  rectitude  of  con- 
duct," X  but  this  interpretation  affords  no  satisfactory  sense  for 
the  second  cl. ;  the  statement  that  "rectitude,  or  obedience  to 
the  law  of  God,  alarms  evil-doers  "  §  is  unnatural  in  itself,  and  is 
foreign  to  the  tone  of  Proverbs.  The  rendering  there  is  destruc- 
tion to  the  etc.  (AV.)  is  not  favored  by  the  parallelism,  which 
suggests  that  destruction  must  be  predicate  of  the  subject  of  first 
clause.  — 16.  Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Wisdom  here 
=  "  understanding,  insight,  intelligence  "  in  the  law  of  life,  which 
is  the  law  of  God.  The  assembly  of  the  Shades  is  the  population 
of  Sheol ;  to  rest  therein  is  to  be  numbered  with  the  dead.  The 
verb  rest  (=  "take  position")  is  the  poetic  equivalent  of  dwell, 
and  is  probably  not  meant  to  convey  the  idea  of  repose.     In  Job 

*  Sym.  Targ.  Lat.  \  De.  Reuss,  RV.  al. 

t  So  De.  Wild.  al.  §  De.  Wild. 


XXI.   14- 1 8  405 

3!^  the  "  weary  "  find  rest  in  Sheol  from  the  wicked  who  trouble 
them  on  earth  ;  but  here  it  is  the  wicked  themselves  who  are  said 
to  rest.  There  is  possibly  a  tinge  of  sarcasm  in  the  expression ; 
but  this  is  hardly  probable.  The  idea  of  the  couplet  is  the  old 
one  that  bad  men  die  prematurely  —  physical  death  is  the  punish- 
ment of  sin;  cf.  ^  8^^''«'  55"'^'^'  ^'-  ^''  etc. -On  wisdom  and 
S/icii/es   (Rephaim)   see  notes  on  i^  2^'. 

17-21.   Thrift,  righteousness,  comfort. 

17.  He  who  loves  pleasure  will  come  to  want, 
He  who  loves  wine  and  oil  will  not  be  rich. 

18.  The  wicked  is  a  ransom  for  the  righteous  — 
Instead  of  the  upright  stands  the  bad  man. 

19.  It  is  better  to  dwell  in  a  wilderness 

Than  with  a  quarrelsome  and  vexatious  woman. 

20.  There  is  precious  treasure  []  in  the  abode  of  the  wise, 
But  the  fool  swallows  it  up. 

21.  Whoso  follows  after  justice  and  kindness 
He  finds  life  []  and  honor. 

17.    Synonymous,  ternary.      Immoderate  love  of  pleasure  and  of 
luxurious  living  is  meant;    cf.  3^  where  wine  is  regarded  as  a 
blessing,  and,  for  the  representation  of  wine  and  oil  as  common 
sources'of  enjoyment,  cf.  27"  Ju.  9'''  ^  104'^  BS.  31^^     Among 
the  Hebrews,  as  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  they  were  usual 
accompaniments  of  feasts;    see  Am.  6«  Dt.  14"=  Neh.  8^^' ;    the  oil 
was  used  for  anointing  the  person.      In  first  cl.  the  Lat.  has  w/w 
loves  feasts,  but  the  reference  is  rather  to  unbridled  luxury  in  gen- 
eral, which  is  likely  to  lead  to  excessive  expenditure  of  money 
and' to  poverty  ;   cf.  BS.  19^  — 18.    Synonymous,  ternary.     Ran- 
som is  that  which  is  given  to  free  a  person  from  a  penalty  to 
which   he  is  exposed;    in   6'^  it   is  a  sum   paid   to  an   injured 
husband,  in  13*^  it  is  money  considered  as  securing  its  possessor 
against  legal  judgment  or  the  oppression  of  great  men,  and  so  in 
^  49^^»)  a  consideration  paid  to  God  for  averting  physical  death, 
the  common  lot  of  men  ;  it  is  the  old  legal  term  for  weregeld  (Ex. 
21^°);   in    I   Sam.    12'^  it  appears   to  be  equivalent  to  "bribe." 
Here,'  as  second   cl.  suggests,  the  idea  is  a  more  general  one  : 
when  punishment  is  inflicted  (by  God)  on  a  community,  it  is  the 


406  PROVERBS 

bad  man,  and  not  the  good,  on  whom  it  falls.  The  form  of  the 
couplet  suggests  the  sense  that  the  righteous  would,  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  justice,  be  punished,  but  that  God  takes  the  wicked 
as  his  substitute  ;  but  this  is  too  crude  a  conception  —  the  thought 
appears  to  be  simply  that  the  bad  and  not  the  good  suffer,  a  fact 
which  is  poetically  represented  as  a  substitution  of  the  former  for 
the  latter.  See  note  on  ii^  —  On  bad  (or,  failhkss),  here 
—  wicked,  see  note  on  2".  — 19.  Single  sentence,  quaternary-ter- 
nary. See  v.^  25-^,  from  which  this  differs  in  putting  wilderness 
instead  of  housetop,  both  lonely  and  incommodious  dwelling- 
places,  but  at  least  affording  peace.  Wilderness  is  pasture-land, 
not  wholly  without  houses  and  people,  but  sparsely  settled  and 
quiet.  —  In  second  cl.  we  may  render  (so  RV.  marg.)  a  quarrel- 
some woman  and  vexation  ;  the  sense  is  the  same,  since  the  vexa- 
tion comes  from  the  woman.  —  The  Heb.  is  lit.  better  abode  in  a 
wilderness  than  a  quarrelsome  etc.  —  20.  Antithetic,  quaternary- 
ternary.  The  meaning  appears  to  be  :  the  wise  man  amasses 
wealth,  the  fool  squanders  it ;  cf.  io\  The  form  of  expression  is 
somewhat  strange  :  elsewhere  in  this  Division  of  Prov.  the  sage  is 
not  represented  as  rich,  and  here  the  fool  seems  to  squander  the 
wealth  amassed  by  the  sage  (as  if  he  were  his  heir).  The  it  must 
mean  the  fool's  own  treasure,  and  wise  must  =  "  provident."  On 
treasure  (physical,  not  spiritual,  riches)  see  10^  15^"  21^;  precious 
is  lit.  desirable  (Gen.  2^  i/a  19^"'"').  The  Heb.  has  precious  treas- 
ure and  oil ;  the  oil  (wanting  in  the  Grk.)  is,  however,  here 
inappropriate,  and  must  be  regarded  as  an  incorrect  scribal  inser- 
tion (perhaps  from  v.^").  Fool  is  lit.  a  fool  of  a  man,  as  in 
15'''.  —  Grk.:  p7-ecious  treasure  will  rest  on  the  mouth  of  the 
sage  (cf  lo"-^^"),  but  how  the  fool  can  swallow  this  treasure  is 
not  clear.  —  21.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Probity,  the  proverb 
says,  brings  long  life  and  honor — the  same  thought  as  in  3--^^  al. 
Instead  oi  justice  the  Heb.  word  might  be  rendered  righteousness, 
but  this  general  term  would  make  the  following  kindjiess  unnec- 
essary ;  a  good  life  is  summed  up  in  the  two  qualities  justice  (see 
8'^  i^)  and  kindness  (see  3'),  as  in  3'^  it  is  summed  up  in  kindness 
and  faithfulness.  —  In  second  cl.,  after  life,  the  Heb.  adds  justice 
(or,  righteousness) ,  which  is  manifestly  a  scribal  insertion  (prob- 
ably an  error  of  eye)  from  first  clause ;  to  say  that  he  who  follows 


XXI.  18-23  407 

righteousness  finds  righteousness  is  meaningless.  —  On  life  and 
honor  see  notes  on  2P  3'^. 

11.  In  1^  DDnS  the  Prep,  is  possible,  after  Sr^'P,  but  may  be  scribal  repeti- 
tion of  preceding  ^.  — 12.  It  is  doubtful  whether  '?3:'n  can  be  understood  as 
=  "  observe  in  order  to  control."  It  occurs  in  the  sense  of  give  heed  to  (the 
law)  for  the  purpose  of  obeying  (Neh.  8^^  Dan.  9-^),  consider  (one's  ways) 
for  the  purpose  of  rightly  ordering  (16^'),  and  be  {kindly)  considerate  <y" (the 
poor,  '/'  4I')  ;  nowhere  else  in  OT.  is  the  term  used  to  express  observation  on 
the  part  of  God.  The  difficulty  would  thus  not  be  set  aside  if  nin>  were 
substituted  for  pis.  The  deliberate  hostility,  moreover,  thus  ascribed  to 
Yahweh,  is  unexampled  in  Pr.,  even  in  i-^^i.  These  considerations  would 
incHne  us  to  interpret  pis  of  the  good  man,  but  p?,  as  the  text  stands,  cannot 
be  so  understood.  Dys.  Sti-jc,  for  '^yvc,  hardly  helps;  Gr.  ic'n  ip-'a^,  for 
J7.^'^  piaV,  and  l'^D\  for  fl'^?">  gains  a  contrast  between  the  reward  {good 
fortune')  of  the  righteous  and  the  punishment  {destruction)  of  the  wicked,  but 
gives  a  text  which  is  syntactically  difficult.  —  1L  apparently  read  pnc  a3?.r-i  "T'dS 
{ut  detrahat),  but  such  procedure  is  not  elsewhere  in  Pr.  ascribed  to  the  p-ix, 
and  tr^D  is  nowhere  else  in  OT.  used  in  a  good  sense.  —  It  is  probable  that  the 
original  form  of  the  couplet  stated  a  contrast  between  the  actions  or  fortunes 
of  righteous  and  wicked  men.  We  should,  possibly,  read:  n^Ji  p-is  nini  ^yvxi 
ri'^DD  Nin  yen.  —  14.  pj  nsD^;  Sf  X3;?ic,  IL  ^x//;/^?/zV,  =  n^D'.  — 15.  "^  npnc; 
(g  aKdOapTos,  perh.  reading  nx-jn ;  So-tos  is  then  supplied  as  subject.  — 
16.  p?  axo-i;  (5  -yL-yavTuv;  ^2C  N71X  'J2-  — 18.  <&  omits  ''  (probably  by 
accident),  and  v}^^  was  then  wrongly  attached  to  v.^'.  —  21.  Omit  the  second 
7\p-\-i,  with  (5'^^  "'■■,  Ziegler,  Elster,  Gr.  Bi. 

22,  23.  Power  of  wisdom  and  prudence. 

22.  A  wise  man  scales  the  city  of  the  mighty. 

And  casts  down  the  stronghold  in  which  it  trusted. 

23.  He  who  is  careful  of  mouth  and  tongue 
Saves  himself  from  trouble. 

22.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Intellect  or  practical  sagacity  versus 
physical  strength.  Cf.  Eccl.  q^-^^  7^^  Pr.  2o'«  24^^.  Scales  is  lit. 
ascends  (Joel  2'').  In  second  cl.  lit.  stronghold  of  its  confidence ; 
the  Heb.  has  strength,  which  may  be  understood  as  =  stronghold, 
or  the  text  may  be  changed  (by  the  addition  of  one  letter).*  — 

23.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Lit.  he  who  guards  etc.  guards 
himself  (lit.  his  soul)  from  troubles.      Cautiousness  in  speech  is 

*  On  the  ancient  Semitic  methods  of  defending  and  attacking  cities  see  Nowack, 
Arck.,  J^  71.  72;  Billerbeck,  Der  Untcrgang  Nineveh's  (in  Beitr.  z.  Assyriol.,  iii.). 


408  PROVERBS 

inculcated,  as  in  13''  i8^^  The  troubles  referred  to  are  probably 
social  and  legal  difficulties  into  which  imprudent  talk  brings  one, 
especially  in  a  community  in  which  there  are  gossips  and  profes- 
sional informers  (Eccl.  10-")  ;  the  reference  is  hardly  to  distress 
of  conscience   (De.). 

24.   Definition  of  scoffer. 

Scoffer  is  the  name  of  the  proud,  arrogant  man, 
Him  who  acts  with  insolent  pride. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.  The  syntactical  construction  is  not  per- 
fectly clear.  The  Heb.  is  lit. :  proud,  arrogant,  scoffer  is  his 
name,  acting  in  insolence  of  pride.  We  cannot  well  translate  "  he 
who  acts  with  insolent  pride  is  proud  and  arrogant  and  is  called  a 
scoffer"  (Reuss),  or  "  the  proud  and  haughty  man,  scorner  is  his 
name,  he  worketh  etc."  (RV.),  since  this  would  be  defining /ri?//^ 
by  pride.  The  couplet  must  rather  be  taken  as  a  definition  of  the 
term  scoffer ;  in  that  case  it  and  24^  are  the  only  examples  of 
formal  definition  in  the  Book.  If  this  interpretation  be  correct,  it 
appears  to  point  to  the  existence  of  a  precise,  philosophical  form 
of  instruction  in  the  schools,  and  to  the  distinct  recognition  of  a 
class  of  arrogant  disregarders  of  moral  law,  both  of  which  facts 
suit  the  time  when  the  Jews  came  under  Greek  influence.  The 
term  rendered  proud  occurs  only  here  in  Pr.,  and  is  not  found  in 
any  preexilian  writing ;  from  such  passages  as  Mai.  ■^^  \\i  11 9^'  we 
should  infer  that  it  was  sometimes  a  designation  of  those  Jews 
who  were  faithless  to  the  national  law.  The  corresponding  sub- 
stantive occurs  in  11^  13^",  where  it  =  haughtiness  in  the  ordinary 
individual  sense.  Arrogant  (found  elsewhere  only  in  Hab.  2^) 
must  here  be  a  synonym  oi proud.  Insolence  is  lit.  outbreak,  used 
of  anger  and  pride.  On  scoffer  see  note  on  i-^  The  definition 
given  in  the  couplet  appears  to  include  all  persons  who  acted  with 
bold  disregard  of  moral  and  religious  law.  The  word  does  not 
mean  "freethinker"  in  the  modern  speculative  sense  (De.) — it 
is  conduct  with  which  Pr.  deals  —  nor  (to  judge  from  the  general 
tone  of  Proverbs)  can  it  designate  merely  national  enemies  or 
apostate  Jews  (as  in  the  Psalms)  ;  it  is  simply  "  insolently  wicked," 
one  who  scoffs  not  at  belief,  but  at  law. 


XXI.  23-27  409 

25.  Sloth  kills. 

The  desire  of  the  sluggard  slays  him, 
P'or  his  hands  refuse  to  labor. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.  The  sluggard's  desire  is  for  ease,  and 
this  kills  him,  since  his  indolence  prevents  his  acquiring  food  and 
clothing  and  other  necessaries  of  Ufe.  Y ox  desire  see  10^^  13"  Nu. 
11^  Job  33"";   the  word  has  a  wider  sense  than  appetite.     Cf.  19-^ 

26.  Text  and  meaning  uncertain.  Lit.  :  All  the  day  he  desires 
desire,  but  the  righteous  gives  and  withholds  not.  The  second  cl. 
apparently  refers  to  the  good  man's  kindness  to  the  poor  (cf. 
Mt.  5^-),  but  with  this  the  first  cl.  stands  in  no  relation,  and  in 
itself  yields  no  sense.  The  repetition  of  the  word  desire  points  to 
the  preceding  v.,  and  the  clause  (read  all  day  long  he  desires)  may 
be  merely  a  variant  of,  or  a  gloss  on,  v.-'\  The  meaning  of  the 
couplet  is  by  some  *  taken  to  be  :  people  are  all  the  time  wishing 
and  begging,  but  the  righteous  man,  so  far  from  asking  for  himself, 
is  always  ready  to  give  to  others ;  but  the  Heb.  does  not  permit 
this  interpretation.  —  No  satisfactory  emendation  has  been  pro- 
posed. Grk.  :  the  wicked  ?nan  desires  .  .  .  bad  desires,  which  gives 
no  antithesis  to  second  cl.  ;  Bickell :  all  day  long  there  is  request 
on  request,  which  fails  to  say  who  they  are  that  request.  The 
substitution  of  diligent  for  righteous  in  second  cl.  gives  an  improb- 
able statement.  The  clauses  appear  to  be  dislocated.  The  first, 
by  a  violent  emendation,  may  be  read  :  the  sluggard  desires  and 
has  not,  with  antithesis  as  in  13'*,  and  a  new  couplet  might  be 
formed  on  the  second  clause. 

27-29.   The  wicked  man's  methods  and  perils. 

27.  The  sacrifice  of  the  wicked  is  (in  itself)  an  abomination  — 
How  much  more  when  it  is  brought  as  atonement  for  crime ! 

28.  A  false  witness  will  perish, 

29.  A  wicked  man  hardens  his  face, 
An  upright  man  considers  his  acts. 

27.  Climax,  ternary.  The  first  cl.  occurs  in  15^  with  the  addi- 
tion to  Yahweh,  which  ought  perhaps  to  be  inserted  here,  though 

*  De.  Bick.  al. 


410  PROVERBS 

it  is  naturally  taken  for  granted.  The  proverb  declares  (as  Am. 
5^^"-'*  Isa.  i"'^'')  that  sacrifice  without  righteousness  is  displeasing 
to  God.  A  bad  man's  offering,  even  in  the  ordinary  performance 
of  ritual  commands  (vows,  passover  etc.),  is  abhorrent;  how 
much  more  when,  offered  without  repentance,  it  is  meant  merely 
to  relieve  one  from  the  consequences  of  evil-doing  !  Sacrifices 
were  prescribed,  in  the  law,  for  sins  of  inadvertence  (Lev.  4)  and 
for  certain  cases  of  fraud  (Lev.  5  6^'^  [Heb.  ch.  5]),  but  not  for 
more  serious  crimes,  such  as  murder  and  adultery ;  but  it  is  not 
improbable  that  in  the  popular  view  an  offering  atoned  for  any 
offence  (see  t//  50"^^').  The  suggestion  is  that  this  superstitious 
and  immoral  conception  of  the  power  of  sacrifice  existed  among 
the  Jews  of  the  writer's  time.  The  case  of  genuine  repentance  is 
not  considered  ;  the  wicked  man  is  regarded  as  one  who  is  given 
over  to  sin.  —  As  atonement  for  crime  (RV.  marg.)  is  lit.  in  crime, 
that  is,  "  in  the  case  of  a  crime."  The  word  here  rendered  crime 
means  originally  plan,  but  appears  to  be  used  in  OT.  always  in  a 
bad  sense  (lo-'  24^),  often  of  unchastity  (Ez.  16'*"'  22^  23-^"'-  Lev. 
18'^).* — This  seems  to  be  the  most  probable  understanding  of 
the  expression,  the  meaning  of  which  is,  however,  doubtful.  Grk.  : 
wickedly  (or,  ujilaw/ully) ,  =  ^' w\i\\  evil  design"  (RV. :  with  a 
wicked  mind)  ;  the  "  wicked  design  "  is  naturally  to  secure  safety 
for  the  offerer,  hardly  to  do  harm  to  others.  We  know  regret- 
tably little  of  the  customs  and  ideas  of  sacrifice  of  the  later  Jewish 
period.  — 28.  The  first  cl.  is  nearly  identical  with  first  cl.  in  19^-^; 
there  the  false  witness  is  punished,  here  he  perishes,  either  by 
course  of  law  (cf  Dt.  19^^),  or  by  divine  intervention.  —  The 
second  cl.  is  obscure,  Ut.  a  mail  who  hears  (lit.  a  man  hearing) 
shall  (or,  will)  speak  for  ever.  The  expression  a  man  who  hears 
yields,  in  this  connection,  no  good  sense.  It  cannot  mean  one 
who  hears  God  (Saad.)  or  is  obedient  to  the  law  of  God  (Rashi), 
for  such  predicates  are  elsewhere  either  expressed  (i*  ^3  j^si  ^^_^ 
or  clearly  suggested  by  the  context  (i^  al.  Ez.  2^).  Li  i  K.  3^ 
the  heading  7nind  which  Solomon  asks  for,  in  order  that  he  may 
judge  the  people,  is  a  mind  which  attentively  considers,  and  in 
this  sense  the  term  is   here  understood  by  some  interpreters  f  ', 

*  In  Job  17II  the  text  is  doubtful ;  see  Budde,  Hiob.        f  Saad.  Ew.  De.  al. 


XXI.  27-29  4"  I 

but  there  the  context  clearly  indicates  the  nature  of  the  hearing, 
here  there  is  no  such  indication  ;  a  hearing  man  is  a  strange 
phrase  by  which  to  express  the  conceplion  a  man  ivJio  carefully 
listens  (and  so  is  able  to  give  trustworthy  testimony).  —  The  pred- 
icate is  not  less  obscure.  To  speak  for  ever  is  something  which 
would  not  be  naturally  said  of  (or  desired  for)  any  man,  good  or 
bad,  in  a  court  of  law  or  elsewhere.  Delitzsch  interprets  it  to 
mean  "  will  never  need  to  be  silent,"  or,  preferably,  "  what  he 
says  will  stand"  (RV.  shall  speak  unchallenged^,  but  these  mean- 
ings are  not  contained  in  the  words.  Instead  oi  for  ever  we  may 
perhaps  render  to  victory  (or,  gloty)  * ;  but  this  rendering  is 
obscure  and  unnatural.  Wildeboer  connects  this  term  with  the 
preceding,  and  suggests  the  translation  :  a  man  who  is  known  as 
trustworthy  may  speak,  but  the  interpretations  known  and  trust- 
worthy are  both  lexicographically  improbable.  Graetz  changes 
the  text  and  reads  :  a  man  of  truth  will  be  remembered  for  ever, 
in  which  truth  stands  in  satisfactory  contrast  \s\\\\  false,  but  remem- 
bered for  ever  seems  to  be  too  large  a  reward  for  the  man  of  truth, 
if,  as  the  connection  would  suggest,  he  is  simply  a  "  true  witness  "  ; 
cf.  10^,  where  such  a  reward  is  assigned  to  the  fust,  the  man  of 
general  probity.  We  expect  a  statement  equivalent  to  "  a  true 
witness  will  be  established."  —  In  default  of  a  satisfactory  interpre- 
tation or  emendation  the  clause  is  better  left  untranslated.  — 
29.  Antithetic,  ternary.  On  "  hardening  the  face  "  see  note  on 
7^^.  Here  the  expression  (lit.  shoius  boldness  in  his  face)  refers 
to  the  impudence  with  which  a  bad  man  deports  himself  toward 
facts  and  persons ;  he  unblushingly  maintains  what  suits  him, 
without  regard  to  truth.  On  the  other  hand,  the  upright  or  vir- 
tuous man,  anxious  to  do  right,  carefully  considers  his  ways 
( —  conduct,  acts) .  Considers  is  the  reading  of  the  Heb.  margin 
(and  of  the  Grk.)  ;  the  text  has  establishes,  which  Reuss  prefers, 
finding  thus  the  admirable  antithesis  :  "a  bad  man  fixes  his  face, 
a  good  man  his  deeds  "  (cf.  4-'')  ;  so  RV.  :  ordereth  his  ways. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  marginal  reading  offers  a  better  antithesis 
to  the  picture  of  effrontery  which  appears  to  be  given  in  the  first 
clause.     On  establish  see  note  on  4"^,  on  consider  notes  on  2^  i4^\ 

*  Aq.  Sym.  Theod.  will  advance  to  victory  ;  Lat.  will  speak  victory. 


412  PROVERBS 

30,  31,  Divine  sovereignty. 

30.  There  is  no  wisdom  nor  understanding 
Nor  counsel  against  Yahweh. 

31.  The  horse  is  prepared  for  the  day  of  battle, 
But  to  Yahweh  belongs  the  victory. 

30.  Single  sentence,  binary.  In  the  second  line  the  preposition 
may  mean  over  against,  in  comparison  zvith,  or  against.  The  two 
meanings  give  the  same  general  sense  for  the  couplet ;  the  second 
meaning  appears  to  be  favored  by  v."^ :  "  no  human  wisdom  can 
avail  against  Yahweh."  A  similar  thought  is  found  in  Job  5^--^^, 
cf.  Jer.  9^.  The  three  nouns  of  the  subject  are  practically  syn- 
onyms,* counsel  involving  "capacity  for  giving  advice";  see 
notes  on  i"  2"  i-^  8^^.  —  31.  Antithetic,  ternary-binary.  Victory 
in  battle,  the  couplet  says,  is  decided  by  God,  in  spite  of  human 
arrangements.  A  similar  thought,  from  a  national  point  of  view, 
is  found  in  \\i  33^'  76"^^*  124;  here  the  point  of  view  is  universal. 
Victory  is  deliverance  from  enemies  ;  see  11"  {^safety).  Prepared 
—  set,  harnessed.  —  The  horse  is  here  spoken  of  as  a  usual  (and 
apparently  as  a  legitimate)  feature  in  an  army.  The  early 
Hebrews  in  Canaan,  being  mostly  mountaineers,  did  not  employ 
horses  in  war,  and  the  use  of  them,  as  characteristic  of  foreigners, 
was  not  favored  by  the  prophets ;  see  Hos.  i'  Dt.  1 7^*^  Zech.  9^" 
al.     Horses  were  imported  from  Egypt  by  Solomon  (i  K.  io-^).t 

22.  In  1^  ^n*J33p  the  suff.  n  is  written  without  Mappiq,  and  quiesces  in  the 
preceding  vowel,  the  object  being  to  secure  a  fuller  vowel  sound  at  the  end 
of  the  couplet;  for  a  list  of  occurrences  of  He  raphatum  in  OT.  see  Bottcher, 
Lehrb.  §418.  On  the  Segol  under  13  see  Ges.^^  §  29;;;.  —  @  interprets  the 
suff.  as  =  ot  dtre/Sets;  9C  omits  the  suff.,  perh.  by  error  of  copyist.  — 23.  Sing, 
ms  is  given  in  Kenn.  30.  253,  Bibl.  Soncin.,  Brixiens.,  (gSiST.  —  24.  On  ini 
see  Ges.  Thes.  and  De.'s  note;  the  stem  is  probably  in>,  with  which  n\T  is 
allied  (cf.  Arab.) ;  the  Aram.  Vrss.  render  it  by  mc,  a  stem  (found  also  in 
Arab.)  with  a  related  sense.  —  26.  S^C  =  pj;  IL  in  *  concnpiscit  et  desiderat ; 
Bi.  nixn  nixn.  |§  nivxn  seems  to  be  scribal  repetition  out  of  the  preceding 
word.  —  On  the  unexpressed  subj.  see  Ew.  §  294,  Ges.^^  §  144.  —  27.    nini  is 

*  Immanuel,  cited  by  Delitzsch,  interprets  the  first  of  theology,  the  second  of 
worldly  science,  the  third  of  politics;  but  no  such  distinction  exists  in  the  Hebrew 
terms. 

t  On  Assyrian  war-horses  cf.  Rawlinson,  Anc.  Mon.  i.  414-427.  The  horse 
appears  to  be  native  in  Central  Asia. 


XXI.  30-XXII.  2  413 

read  or  supplied  after  nsyn  (P3"r)  in  (S  and  S",  and  is  added  by  Dys.  Reuss, 
Kamp.  —  1^  •'3  1*^'  is  inexactly  represented  in  (§  by  /cot  yap;  in  the  other 
Vrss.,  including  S",  H'^'  is  neglected.  —  28.  J§  >?"^';  (S  yTTTjKoos,  for  ^tttJkooj. 
—  |l]  nxr ;  (5  (pv\aa-(76fM€Pos,  =  -\sj'?  (Capp.),  or  possibly  free  rendering  of  |^ 
(Baumg.j;  S"  has  -»j:;  SST  rightly  ;  IL  victoriam  ;  ASG  et'j  i/j/cos.  —  Gr.  rxi 
~oi''  nx:'?  PCN. — The  Heb.  noun  nsj  appears  to  represent  two  stems:  one 
=  shine  (Syr.  Arab.),  whence  glory,  victory,  clearness  (of  voice),  purity 
(of  heart),  and  hence  perh.  n^i:. ;  the  other  =  endure,  whence,  continuance 
{jy-it!  forever^.  Cf.  Orelli,  5y«.,  pp.  95  ff.  —  29.  K  \t  is  given  in  the  great 
mass  of  Heb.  MSS.,  and  in  AS^SCIL;  Q  P'  is  found  in  (§3[r,  and  about  50 
Heb.  MSS.  — K  vom;  Q  oti.  — 30.  |^  nin<;  (gB  a(.  .^6^  dcre/3^  (in  some 
cursives  Kvplov) ;  ave^rj  is  perh.  error  for  exjae^rj,  perh.  (Baumg.)  represents 
HIT'  -1  la'^  /o  /^/w  w/i(?  zj  unfaithful  to  Vahweh  (see  ^  73'®)  ;  possibly  the  Heb. 
expression  was  written  '>  njj  (=  nin>  -a),  and  the  "1  was  overlooked  by  the 
Grk.  scribe. 


XXII.  1,  2.  Value  of  reputation.    Mutual  relations  of  rich 
and  poor. 

1.  A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches, 
To  be  well  thought  of  is  better  than  silver  and  gold. 

2.  The  rich  and  the  poor  stand  side  by  side, 
Yahweh  is  the  maker  of  them  all. 

1.  Synonymous,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  The  Heb.  has 
simply  name,  =  "  repute,  standing,"  here  involving  the  predicate 
good,  as  in  Gen.  6^,  men  of  (military)  reputation,  Job  30*  a  natne- 
/ess  race  (God -forsaken,  without  social  standing),  Eccl.  7^  (good) 
repute  is  better  than  oil,  BS.  \\^'^  be  careful  of  thy  (good)  name. 
To  be  well  thought  of  (lit.  favor)  is  to  have  kindly  appreciation, 
good  reception  from  others,  to  be  persona  grata  ;  and,  from  the 
parallelism,  name  is  the  estimation  in  which  one  is  held  by  others, 
during  life,  and  after  death.  Q'^i  favor  see  notes  on  i"  13^',  cf. 
Eccl.  9'^  A  good  reputation,  the  proverb  appears  to  say,  is  val- 
uable for  the  advantage  it  brings,  respect,  influence,  material  pros- 
perity. Or,  the  sense  may  be  the  larger  one  that  good  repute, 
involving  high  intellectual  and  moral  character,  is  a  more  precious 
possession  than  material  wealth.  The  first  interpretation  is  per- 
haps supported  by  the  term  favor.  —  RV.  loving  (lit.  goof)  favor 
is  improbable  ;  good  is  not  a  proper  epithet  oi  favor  (in  which  it 
is  implied),  and  does  not  so  occur  elsewhere  in  OT.  See  note 
on   i^  —  2.    Single  sentence  with  suggested  antithesis,  ternary. 


414  PROVERBS 

Stand  side  by  side  is  lit.  meet  one  another.  The  meaning  is  : 
There  are  social  differences  among  men  —  but  all  men,  as  crea- 
tures of  God,  have  their  rights,  and  their  mutual  obligations  of 
respect  and  kindness.  This  conception  of  human  equality,  having 
its  roots  in  the  old  Hebrew  life,  and  recognized  by  the  Prophets, 
is  more  definitely  expressed  in  the  later  gnomic  literature,  which 
looks  at  men  apart  from  accidents  of  birth  and  station.  Cf  Job 
34^^  BS.  1 1" ;  Frank,  refers  to  Syriac  Menander  66. 

3-5.   Sagacity,  piety, 

3.  A  prudent  man  sees  danger  and  hides  himself, 
Simpletons  go  on  and  are  mulcted. 

4.  The  reward  of  humility  (and)  of  the  fear  of  Yahweh 
Is  riches  and  honor  and  life. 

5.  <  Traps  and>  snares  are  in  the  path  of  the  lawless, 
He  who  has  regard  to  himself  avoids  them. 

3.  Antithetic,  quaternary-ternary.  The  couplet  occurs  again  in  27^^. 
On p7-udent  —  "  observant,  sagacious,"  see  notes  on  12^^  i*.  Danger 
is  lit.  evil,  anything  which  is  a  source  of  injury,  financial,  physical,  or 
moral.  Simpleton,  a  favorite  term  in  Pr.,  occurs  elsewhere  only  in 
Pss.  (three  times)  and  Ez.  (once)  ;  it  expresses  lack  of  good  sense, 
and  is  not  properly  represented  by  Eng.  "  simple  "  ;  see  note  on  i^. 
Mulcted  or  subjected  to  fine  (Ex.  21"  Dt.  22^^  Am.  2*  2  C.  36'^)  here 
=  suffer  injury  or  are  punished  in  general,  but  the  legal  coloring 
may  be  retained  in  the  translation;  see  17^*^  21".  —  The  prudent 
man  here  is  not  a  sneak  or  a  coldblooded  and  selfish  person,  but 
simply  a  man  of  forethought  and  acuteness.  —  Grk.,  first  cl.  :  an 
intelligent  man,  seeing  a  bad  man  severely  punished,  is  Jmnself 
instructed — a  sense  good  in  itself  (cf.  21"),  but  not  that  of  the 
Hebrew.  —  4.  Single  sentence,  ternary  or  quaternary- ternary. 
The  and  of  first  cl.  is  not  in  the  Heb.,  but  should  probably  be 
inserted.  The  cl.  may  be  rendered  :  the  reward  of  humility  is  the 
fear  of  Yahweh,*  but  humility,  in  such  a  connection,  is  substan- 
tially identical  with  the  fear  of  God,  or  if  a  relation  of  sequenoe 
be  supposed,  it  is  rather  the  fear  that  precedes.  —  The  combina- 
tion of  the  two  terms  is,  however,  somewhat  strange.  They  might 
be  taken  as  in  apposition  (Now.)  :  humility  (which  is)  the  fear  of 

*  De.  Wild. 


XXII.  2-6  415 

Yahwch,  in  which  case  humility  would  have  the  rehgious  sense, 
and   would  ^//V/y;    the   sage    must    then    be   supposed    to   be 
guarding  against  the  non-religious  interpretation  of  the  term - 
''  humility,"  he  would  say,  "  provided  it  be  the  fear  of  Yahweh   is 
rewarded"  ;    this  construction,  however,  seems  hardly  natural,  for 
elsewhere  (15"^'  i8'^')  honor  is  declared  to  be  the  reward  of  non- 
religious  humility.      The  term  humility  may,  however,  be  a  gloss 
explaining /.ar  of  Yahweh.     Or,  the  couplet  may  be  based  on 
IC33  combining  in  one  clause  the  two  subjects  there  standmg  m 
two'clauses  (see  note  on  15^^)  ;  m  that  case  humility  may  here  be 
understood  as  non-religious.     Cf.  the  similar  expression  m  ^45     • 
For  humility  see  15^^  i8^S  and  cf.  ^  ^^"^  (=  ^  Sam.  22   )  - 
The  general  meaning  of  the  text  is  clear  :   reward  follows  humility 
and  piety.     On  the  nature  of  the  reward  see  notes  on  3-    .  — 
5     Single  sentence,  with  implied  antithesis,  quaternary.     On  law- 
iess(=  crooked)  see  notes  on  2^^  ii^».    He  who  has  regard  to  (lit 
keeps)  himself  (lit.  his  soul)  takes  care  to  avoid  {V^^.  ^^f^' f^^^f^ 
the  dangers  of  the  lawless  life.     Instead  of  traps  the  Heb.  reading 
is  thorns,  an  expression  which,  in  the  connection,  is  hardly  appro- 
priate :  if  the  word  be  correct,  the  reference  maybe  to  hedges, 
which  bar  the  way  of  the  vagrant.      It  is  better  to  emend  to  a 
term  synonymous  with  snares  (see  Job  i8«).     Snares  are  set  for 
trespassers.  — Dyserinck  reads  :  snares  are  hidden  in  the  path  etc., 
which  gives  a  good  sense. 

6.  Education  forms  the  man. 

Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  is  to  go, 

And  even  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it. 

Single  sentence  (condition  and  consequence),  ternary,  or  quater- 
nary-ternary. Train  up  =  give  instruction,  experience.  In  the  way 
he  is  to  go,  lit.  according  to  his  way,  that  is,  not  exactly  m  the 
path  of  industry  and  piety  "*  (which  would  require  in  the  right 
way),  nor  -  according  to  the  bodily  and  mental  development  of  the 
child  "t  (which  does  not  agree  with  second  cl.),  but  "  in  accord- 
ance with  the  manner  of  life  to  which  he  is  destined,"  X  the  mi  pli- 
cation being  that  the  manner  of  hfe  will  not  be  morally  bad;  but 

*  Ew.  AV.  RV.  t  Saad.  De.  X  Now.  Zock.  Wild. 


41 6  PROVERBS 

the  point  on  which  stress  is  laid  is  the  power  of  education. 
Frank,  renders  :  train  a  child  in  the  begijining  of  his  way,  then 
etc.  j  but  the  translation  in  the  beginnifig  is  without  authority. 
The  couplet  reflects  the  opinion  of  a  community  in  which  the  pre- 
cise training  of  children  was  recognized  as  possible  and  obligatory. 

7-9.   Thrift,  improbity,  liberality. 

7.  The  rich  rules  over  the  poor, 

And  the  borrower  is  slave  to  the  lender. 

8.  He  who  sows  iniquity  will  reap  calamity, 

And  <  the  produce  of  his  work  >  will  come  to  naught. 

9.  The  kindly  man  will  be  blessed 
Because  he  gives  bread  to  the  poor. 

7.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Cf.  ii"''  12-^  17^  The  couplet  states  a 
natural  social  law ;  the  reference  appears  to  be  not  to  legal  con- 
trol, but  to  the  state  of  dependence  consequent  on  poverty  and 
borrowing ;  this  is  expressed  by  the  strong  term  slave,  which  is 
probably  not  to  be  taken  literally.  According  to  the  old  Heb.  law 
a  man  might  sell  himself  or  his  children  into  slavery  (Ex.  21-""  Neh. 
5^),  or  the  creditor  might  sell  the  debtor  (Am.  2^  2  K.  4^)  ;  how 
long  this  law  continued  in  force  is  uncertain,  but  the  parallelism 
in  our  couplet  suggests  the  more  general  sense  for  the  term  slave. 
—  8.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Iniquity  =  moral  badness  in  general 
(Hos.  lo^'^)  ;  see  the  similar  term  in  29^^  —  The  term  (awen) 
here  rendered  calamity  (=  trouble^  commonly  means  iniquity  (so 
in  6^-  10'-^  21^^  al),  sometimes  idolatry  ox  false  god  (as  in  Beth- 
aven,  Hosea's  contemptuous  name  for  Bethel,  Hos.  4^^),  here  the 
result  of  wickedness  (as  in  12-^).  —  In  second  line  the  Heb.  has: 
ajid  the  sceptre  of  his  insolence  (or,  the  rod  of  his  wrath)  zvill  (or, 
shall)  fail  {  =  pass  away),  the  reference  being  apparently  to  the 
tyranny  of  bad  and  powerful  men  *  ;  the  interpretation  the  rod  of 
his  punishment  (=  the  wrath  that  fiills  on  him)  shall  come  to  pass 
(be  fulfilled)!  is  improbable.  Gratz,  with  change  of  text:  will 
destroy  him.  The  expression  of  the  Heb.  is,  however,  unnatural 
(whether  7'od  be  taken  as  emblem  of  rule  or  as  instrument  of  pun- 
ishment), and  offers  no  good  antithesis  to  first  clause.  The  emen- 
dation above  adopted  \  {work  being  tilling)  preserves  the  figure 

*  De.  RV.  t  Schult.  Ew.  %  Frank. 


XXII.  6-n  417 

of  first  line,  and  furnishes  a  precise  antitliesis.  On  the  doctrine 
see  notes  on  i^-  2^^  etc.  —  9.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Kindly  is 
\\\..  good  of  eye ;  the  opposite,  evil  of  eye,  occurs  in  23''  28^-.  Eye 
here  =  look,  expression  ;  there  is  no  immediate  connection  with 
the  idea  in  the  magical  "evil  eye."  —  Blessed,  by  God,  immedi- 
ately or  through  natural  laws,  and  by  men  ;  see  10"  11^".  Bread, 
lit.  of  his  bread.     Cf.  14^''  19^^  31-°  BS.  f  WS.  7^. 

10.  Insulting  words  stir  up  strife. 

Expel  the  scoffer,  and  discord  vanishes, 
And  strife  and  insult  cease. 

Synonymous  (second  cl.  =  predicate  of  first  cl.),  quaternary-ter- 
nary. On  scoffer  see  note  on  i^^.  Strife  is  lit.  decision  ox  judg- 
ment, then  a  lawsuit,  here,  from  the  connection,  any  quarrelling 
or  contention,  =  discord.  Insult,  lit.  disgrace  (3^  9^),  here  sub- 
stantially the  talk  that  tends  to  inflict  disgrace.  —  The  Grk.,  read- 
ing second  cl.  differently  :  for,  when  he  sits  iti  a  coujicil  (o-weS/ato)), 
he  insults  (or,  dishonors)  everybody.  The  reference  in  the  Heb. 
is  probably  not  specially  to  proceedings  in  courts  of  law.  Cf.  1 7" 
20^. 

11.  Defective  text.  The  Heb.  reads  :  He  who  loves  purity  of 
heart  (or,  the  pure  of  heart)  the  grace  of  his  lips  the  king  is  his 
friend,  which  is  syntactically  defective.  A  slight  change  of  text 
may  give  the  sense  :  he  who  loves  etc.,  on  whose  lips  is  grace,  the 
king  etc.*  ;  this  is  intelligible,  and  the  combination  of  ethical  and 
intellectual  qualities  (purity  and  eloquence),  though  not  usual 
(see  12^3-0  14,^  15-2  161"  18*  20«-«  25^  29^"  .^  45'"^  Eccl.  lo^^) 
occurs  in  16^^.  Ewald  :  he  who  loves  with  pure  heart,  which  the 
Heb.  does  not  allow.  Lat.  (followed  by  RV.),  emending  by  the 
insertion  of  a  Preposition  :  he  who  loves  etc.,  for  the  grace  etc., 
which  introduces  an  inconsequence  in  saying  that,  if  a  man  is 
morally  pure,  then  he  is  loved  not  for  this  purity,  but  for  his  gra- 
ciousness  of  speech.  Grk.:  the  Lord  loves  holy  hearts.  Delitzsch 
mentions  a  Jewish  interpretation  which,  in  second  cl.,  translates  : 
his  friend  is  a  king,  that  is,  the  friend  of  an  honorable  and  culti- 

*  Rashi,  Luther  (who  takes  king  to  be  =  God),  De.  Reuss  al. 
2E 


41 8  PROVERBS 

vated  man  is  as  fortunate  and  happy  as  a  king  —  which,  as  De. 
remarks,  is  a  beautiful,  but  improbable,  exegesis.  —  If  resort  be 
had  to  conjectural  emendation,  we  may  suppose  either  that  there 
is  a  contrast  between  God  and  king,  or  that  king  is  the  subj.  of 
the  whole  couplet.  In  the  first  case  we  may  read  :  God  loves  the 
pure  in  heart,  grace  of  lips  pleases  the  king  (so  Wild.)  ;  such  a 
contrast  occurs  nowhere  else,  and  is  not  probable.  In  the  second 
case  the  reading  will  be  :  the  king  loves  the  pure  in  heart,  and 
grace  of  lips  is  his  delight  (so  substantially  Rashi  and  Luther),  and 
this  seems  to  offer  the  most  probable  sense  (see  16^''). 

12.  Text  and  translation  doubtful.  Lit. :  The  eyes  of  Yahweh 
guard  kno7vledge,  but  he  overthrows  the  words  of  the  wicked.  The 
text  of  first  cl.  cannot  be  correct  for  several  reasons.  The  verb 
can  here  (as  predicate  of  the  eyes  of  Yahweh)  mean  only  guard 
(not  obey),  and  cannot  be  followed  by  the  abstract  term  knoivl- 
edge,  nor  does  OT.  usage  permit  the  interpretation  of  this  term  as 
=  Imn  who  has  knowledge  *  ;  and  the  verb  is  not  an  appropriate 
predicate  of  the  eyes  of  Yahweh,  which  are  said  elsewhere  to  "  rest 
upon,  be  directed  toward,"  but  never  to  "guard,  protect."  For 
this  latter  reason  the  emendation  (Ew.)  knowers  of  knowledge  is 
unsatisfactory.  Somewhat  better  Gratz  :  the  eyes  of  Yahweh  are 
on  those  who  keep  (=  observe,  obey,  or,  preserve)  knowledge ;  the 
verb,  in  the  sense  obey,  is  elsewhere  followed  by  a  concrete  noun, 
as  law  (28^  \\i  119'^^)  or  p7-ecepts  {ij/  119^")  ;  in  the  sense  preserve, 
guard,  it  is  followed  by  sagacity  (3^^),  which  is  a  quality  of 
the  mind,  and  instruction  (4''^),  which  is  concrete,  and  it  is,  in 
any  case,  doubtful  whether  such  technical  philosophical  terms 
would  be  employed  in  a  theocratic  couplet.  Frank,  interprets  : 
Yahweh  possesses  (all)  kno7vledge,  and  etc.,  but  the  verb  does 
not  mean  possess,  and  this  rendering  offers  no  good  antithesis 
or  synthesis  of  the  two  lines.  As  the  ordinary  antithesis  to 
wicked  is  a  term  =  upright,  we  may  perhaps  read  :  the  eyes  of 
Yahweh  are  on  the  righteous ;  cf.  \^  ■54'^'''''  loi^  The  expression 
"the  eyes  are  on"  carries,  in  OT.,  an  implication  of  benevolence. 
—  On  overthrows  and  wicked  {faithless)  see  notes  on  13^  2*^,  and 
cf.  21^. 

*  Saad.  De.  Zock.  RV.  al. 


XXII.  II-I5  4^9 

13-15.  Sloth,  adultery,  folly. 

13.  The  sluggard  says:  There  is  a  lion  without, 
On  the  street  I  shall  be  slain. 

14.  The  mouth  of  the  adulteress  is  a  deep  pit, 

He  with  whom  Yahweh  is  angry  will  fall  thereinto. 

15.  Folly  is  bound  to  the  mind  of  a  child, 
But  the  rod  of  correction  will  remove  it. 

13.  Continuous,  with  synonymous  predicates,  quaternary-ternary. 
Humorous  sarcasm  :  to  suppose  that  there  was  a  Hon  on  the 
street  (Heb.  streets  or  operi  places)  was  absurd,  but  any  excuse 
would  do  for  one  who  was  determined  not  to  stir  from  his  place. 
In  the  Heb.  the  danger  in  second  cl.  is  from  the  Hon,  in  the  Grk. 
from  human  murderers  {there  a;r  murderers  in  the  streets)  ;  see 
the  parallel  26''.  On  the  sluggard  see  6^-^  io-«  13^  15"  19''^  20^  21^ 
24'''"  2  6'''"'*-^'^. — 14.  Continuous,  ternary.  Adulteress  (plu.  in  the 
Heb.)  is  lit.  strange  woman,  on  which  see  note  on  2^^  Mouth  is 
a  reference  to  her  seductive  speech.  —  Except  in  this  couplet  and 
its  parallel  23-''  the  term  here  rendered  strange  woman  in  RV. 
occurs  in  Pr.  only  in  chs.  1-9  (2^*^  s'^-"  6"-"'  f),  and  Ewald  would 
therefore  here  read  harlot.  But  a  reference  to  this  vice  in  the 
present  section  is  not  improbable,  if  the  final  revision  of  the  Book 
be  put  in  the  Greek  period.*  —  In  second  cl.  De.  has,  cursed  of 
God,  and  RV.  abhorred  of  the  Lord,  both  possible,  but  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  the  Heb.  term,  angry,  is  more  appropriate.-^ 
15.  Continuous,  ternary.  Children,  the  proverb  says,  are  morally 
immature,  and  the  rod  is  the  best  discipline  for  them;  see  13^* 
2^13.14  2pi\  The  fool  is  to  be  similarly  treated  (lo^'^  2(y').  Cor- 
poral chastisement  of  children  was  probably  universal  in  antiquity 
(so  in  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome  —  Plato  commends  moral  train- 
ing, Laws  v.,  p.  729). — The  affirmation  of  the  couplet  is  general, 
and  is  not  to  be  put  as  conditional :  "  if  folly  is  bound  .  .  .  then 
the  rod"  etc.  —  Cf.  Menander,  Monost  ^22  :  he  who  is  not  flogged 
is  not  educated.  \ 

*  Another  word  for  adulteress  (lit.  strange  woman)  occurs  five  times  in  chs.  1-9 
(2I6  5I0.  20  624  yS)^  once  (23-')  in  the  rest  of  the  Book ;  still  another  is  found  once 
(in  a  gloss,  3020).  The  term  iox  harlot  is  found  twice  in  chs.  1-9  (626  7W),  and 
twice  in  the  rest  of  the  Book  (232^  298). 

t  See  Becker,  Char.,  Exc.  to  Sc.  I.,  Gallus,  Exc.  II.  to  Sc.  I.,  and,  for  Egypt, 
the  maxims  of  Ptahhetep  and  Dauf. 


420  PROVERBS 

16.  Lit. :  He  who  oppresses  the  poor,  to  bring  increase  to  him, 
he  who  gives  to  the  rich,  only  to  loss.  Interpretations  have  varied 
according  as  the  couplet  has  been  taken  as  a  single  sentence  or  as 
antithetic,  and  according  as  the  him  of  first  cl.  has  been  referred 
to  he  or  to  the  poor,  and  the  loss  of  second  cl.  to  he  or  to  the  rich. 
Hence  a  great  number  of  forced  translations.*  Possibly,  follow- 
ing 28*-^''  (cf.  ii^*),  the  oppresses  should  be  changed  to  gives  to: 
he  who  gives  to  the  poor  it  is  gain  to  him,  he  who  gives  to  the  rich 
it  is  only  loss ;  we  should  then  have  a  double  contrast,  between 
poor  and  rich,  and  between  gai}i  and  loss,  and  the  couplet  would 
be  a  commendation  of  benevolence  and  a  condemnation  of  bri- 
bery and  servility.  Gifts  were  made  to  the  rich  not  out  of  love, 
but  to  secure  their  favor.  —  Cf.  14^^  19"  28^ 

XXII.  1.  After  |§  -3;:'  an  adj.  =  good  is  inserted  by  (g^TlL  Bi.,  not  by  S; 
the  adj.  is  probably  not  original  —  the  usage  permits,  and  the  rhythm  rather 
favors,  its  omission. — 1§  2'j  is  not  a  proper  epithet  of  \p,  and  must  be  taken 
as  predicate.  —  2.  Gr.,  referring  to  29'^,  supposes  that  there  is  a  lacuna  before 
T\v:.  The  statement  "  Y.  enlightens  (or  protects)  them  all"  would  be  appro- 
priate; but  |§  gives  a  good  sense.  —  3.  K  td  ,  Q  td  ;  between  the  two 
there  is  little  choice  —  the  time  is  present,  the  Impf.  with  i  would  follow  the 
general  rule  of  sequence,  with  1  would  isolate  the  act  as  inchoate,  the  Perf. 
would  be  parallel  to  nvX->. — 4.  Before  n{<^'  insert  >.  —  n  13  ,•  occurs  outside  of 
Pr.  only  in  Zeph.  2^  (where  it  is  parallel  to  pTi),  2  Sam.  22^^,  =  ^  l8-^s 
(where  it  is  an  attribute  of  God),  and  ip  45^;  in  the  last  passage  it 
apparently  forms  a  compound  with  pny,  but  the  text  is  doubtful  (see  Wellh. 
in  SB07\,  and  cf.  Cheyne,  Psalms  and  Psalter).  Here  it  is  unnecessary, 
probably  a  gloss.  —  5.  |^  DJ'i;  ©  rpL^o\oi  thortts  or  thislles  ;  3L  arnia  (taking 
njs  as  =  shield);  S^T  .s3:'i  snares,  —  33>'  (Job  18^),  which  is  the  better  read- 
ing; Gr.  Ven.  dKavdai.  The  sense  l/iorus  for  |^  may  perh.  be  inferred  from 
rj>,  Am.  4^,  parallel  to  nn  t^d  Jishhooks ;  masc.  plu.  nji"  occurs  elsewhere 
only  in  Job  5^,  where  the  text  appears  to  be  corrupt  (cf.  Budde,  Hiob). — 
Dys.  nns  {snares  are  hidden),  which  is  appropriate  and  should  perh.  be 
adopted,  though  ojs  gives  a  more  satisfactory  parallelism  in  first  line. — 
6.  The  couplet  is  wanting  in  (S^ax^  found  in  23.  109.  147.  al.,  and  in  S>^, 
where  it  is  ascribed  to  0. — The  stem  ^3^  in  OT.  =  dedicate  (a  building, 
Dt.  20^  I  K.  8°^  ^  30I  Dan.  3^)  and,  only  here,  (rain.  In  Arab.,  in  the  sense 
give  training,  experience,  sound  judgment  (cf  Eth.  understand),  the  verb  is 
a  denom.  from  tin  (Heb.  in  palate);  this  sense  may  be  supposed  to  come 
from  taking  the  palate  as  the  seat  of  taste,  first  physical  and  then  intellectual 
(so  Ges.  Thes.),  or  from  the  guidance  of  an  animal  by  a  bridle  in  the  mouth, 

*  See  the  Anc.  Vrss.  Saad.  Luth.  Ew.  Hi.  De.  Reuss,  Str.  Wild.  RV.  al. 


XXII.  i6  421 

or  from  the  rubbing  of  children's  palates  (with  dates,  etc.)  as  an  act  of  initia- 
tion into  full  membership  in  the  clan;  this  last  appears  best  to  account  for 
the  two  senses  of  the  verb  in  Heb. — The  --  before  -\:;i  may  result  from  the 
meaning  of  the  verb  give  initiation  or  training  (to  the  child) ;  otherwise  it 
must  be  regarded  as  an  Araniaism.  —  J^  T:a:.  is  omitted  by  Bi.  as  having  no 
antecedent;  but  it  refers  naturally  to  '3-(-_.  —  8.  J^  <r-\T)  '02-y;  for  V  <5  has 
epYwf,  =  ir-ij;"  (so  Wild.)  ;  Frank.,  better :  i.-nj;;  in.:'.  |^  i'^3".;  Gr.  in^3\  — 
10.  (&  read  |-]  r2  2V'\  — 11.  Read  either  in;;n  vr^az'  pnci  3|;'  nna  nin>  2nN 
I^D,  or,  with  transposition,  ^j's-i  r^T^QV  pi  aV  nna  ^Sd  3nx.  S  in  ^ ;  and  he 
(God)  loves  (=  pn)  the  lips  of  those  who  love  (=  "'in)  the  king.  — 12.  Ew.  '•v-iV 
npi;  Gr.  '1  nxj  Sy;  Hi.  nyn  for  nyi.  Read  either'!  ipi  S;;  mni  ij>i;  (which, 
however,  does  not  offer  a  good  contrast  to  "mz  ^^.a""),  or  D|"ns3  ">  ij^>'. — 
14.  |J|  nnr;  Gr.  mr.  — 16.  |^  pu*;;  read  perh.  |ro,  though  this  is  graphically 
not  easy. 


III.     SECOND  COLLECTION  OF  APHORISMS 
(XXIL  17-XXIV.  34). 

This  collection  consists  of  two  parts,  22^^-24--,  and  24^^^  the 
second  being  an  appendix  to  the  first.  The  collection  is  marked 
off  from  the  preceding  (10^-22^'')  by  the  introduction  of  the 
author  (22^'^"^^)  and  by  the  title  prefixed  by  the  continuator  (24^'). 
It  differs  also  in  tone  and  structure  from  the  preceding  collection  : 
it  is  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  the  pupil  (who  is  called  the  son), 
it  is  intimate,  argumentative,  descriptive,  and  it  is  arranged  in 
strophes  instead  of  couplets.  In  the  two  last  points  it  approaches 
Ben-Sira.  The  moral  and  religious  content  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  rest  of  the  Book.      On  the  date  see  the  Introduction. 

XXII.  17-21.   The  author's  introduction. 

The  person  of  the  author  of  2  2^'-24"  is  unknown;  he  is  prob- 
ably not  the  same  with  the  author  of  i^-p''^  the  structure  and 
material  being  very  different  in  the  two  sections.  This  introduc- 
tion differs  also  from  that  (i^"*^)  which  is  prefixed  to  the  whole 
Book  —  it  is  more  personal  in  tone,  and  less  lapidary  in  style. 
The  author  speaks  as  a  sage  who  has  composed  or  collected  a 
body  of  maxims  which  he  regards  as  of  high  importance. 

The  text  is  doubtful ;  the  Greek  form  differs  considerably  from 
the  Hebrew. 

The  Hebrew  reads : 

17.  Incline  thine  ear,  and  hear  the  words  of  the  wise, 
And  apply  thy  mind  to  my  knowledge. 

18.  For  it  is  pleasant  that  thou  keep  them  in  thy  mind. 
That  they  be  ready  on  thy  lips. 

19.  That  thy  trust  may  be  in  Yahweh 
I  instruct  thee  to-day,  thee  also; 

20.  Did  I  not  formerly  (?)  write  for  thee 
In  plans  and  knowledge, 

21.  To  cause  thee  to  know  the  truth  of  words  of  truth, 
To  return  answer,  truth,  to  him  who  sends  thee? 

422 


XXII.  17-21  423 

17,  18.  The  expression  the  wise  seems  to  be  a  marginal  title 
(as  in  24^)  which  has  got  into  the  text ;  read  my  words.  The 
description  of  keep  them  by  pleasant  is  improbable  ;  this  term 
properly  describes  knowledge  (so  the  verb  in  2'"),  but  "keeping" 
is  rather  characterized  as  wise  or  beneficial  (2^"^'  3"''^^  «/■)•  The 
Grk.  has  in  i  y** :  apply  thy  mind  that  thou  mayest  know  that  they  are 
good,  but  the  proper  object  of  "know"  is  "instruction"  (i^  4'). 
Ewald,  better  :   apply  thy  heaii  to  knowledge,  because  it  is  pleasant. 

—  Be  ready  is  lit.  he  fixed,  established,  =  ready  for  use.  — 
19,  20.  By  the  to-day  thee  also  of  the  Heb.  the  sage  appears  to 
intimate  that  he  had  taught  other  persons  at  a  former  time,  but 
he  does  not  further  explain  this.  In  the  formerly  (?)  there 
would  be  a  reference  to  former  instruction  given  to  the  pupil  here 
addressed  ;  the  Heb.  word  may  be  a  fragment  of  the  common 
expression  for  formerly  (lit.  yesterday  and  the  day  before^ .  This 
rendering  is,  in  any  case,  improbable,  for  the  reason  that  it  intro- 
duces a  strange  contrast  between  the  instruction  now  given  to 
teach  trust  in  Yahweh,  and  that  formerly  given  to  impart  the 
capacity  of  answering  (v.-^) .  —  The  Heb.  margin,  instead  of  this 
word,  has  a  term  meaning  officers  (2  Sam.  23-  2  K.  7-  9"'  Ez. 
23^'),  which  by  most  interpreters,  from  Saadia  on,*  is  taken  as 

—  noble  (or,  excellent^  sayings,  a  rendering  which  is  without 
authority  in  Heb.  usage,  and  cannot  be  called  probable. 
Delitzsch,  in  support  of  it,  refers  to  the  7ioble  things  of  8'^  (which 
is  probably  an  error  of  text),  to  the  royal  law  of  Jas.  2^,  and  to 
Plato's  \xkp-r]  T7ye/i,ov£s  {Tim.  91  ^),  =  "  governing  powers  of  the 
soul "  ;  but  neither  of  these  references  is  in  point,  since  the  terms 
"royal"  and  "governing"  are  epithets  of  the  nouns  "law"  and 
"parts,"  while  here  the  word  officers  stands  alone  and  undefined, 
and  the  designation  of  a  maxim  simply  as  a  "  captain  "  (or,  "  offi- 
cer") is  unexampled  and  unnatural.  —  In  some  Anc.  Vrss.f  the 
word  is  rendered  triply  (which  Rashi  explains  as  referring  to  the 
Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographa),  by  Luther,  freely,  man- 
ifoldly. This  rendering  (which  may  perhaps  be  taken  as  =  repeat- 
edly') is  intelligible  in  the  Grk.  translation  {do  thou  transcribe 
them  triply  for  thyself),  but  not  in  the   Hebrew.  —  21.    In  the 

*  AV.  Mich.  De.  Reuss,  RV.  Kamp.  al.  \  Grk.  Syr.  Targ.  Lat. 


424  PROVERBS 

Hebrew  the  first  truth  is  superfluous,  probably  a  gloss.  Similarly 
truth  has  been  repeated,  by  scribal  error,  in  second  cl.  —  The 
expression  to  him  who  sends  thee  (or,  in  some  texts,  to  those  who 
send  thee)  could  only  be  understood  to  mean  "  to  thy  parent  or 
guardian,  who  has  sent  thee  to  school,  and  desires  an  account  of 
thy  progress."  A  better  sense  is  given  by  the  Grk.  reading  to 
those  who  question  thee*  The  pupil,  as  sage,  would  be  consulted 
by  many  persons,  and  the  proof  of  his  maturity  would  be  his 
abiUty  to  answer  questions  concerning  the  conduct  of  life ;  cf. 
I  K.   lo'^  BS.  sg^-i"  VVS.  S^^-^^ 

The  text  of  the  passage  has  suffered  greatly ;  the  following 
translation  is  an  attempt  at  a  restoration  of  the  original. 

17.  Lend  thine  ear  and  hear  my  words, 
And  give  heed  to  learn  right  things, 

18.  So  that  thou  mayest  keep  them  in  mind, 
And  they  be  ready  on  thy  lips. 

19.  That  thy  trust  may  be  in  Yahweh 
I  teach  thee  my  words. 

20.  I  write(?)  for  thee  .  .  . 

That  thy  plans  may  be  intelligent. 

21.  I  teach  thee  words  of  truth, 

That  thou  mayest  answer  him  who  questions  thee. 

On  the  omission  of  the  wise  see  the  note  on  this  verse  above.  To 
iea?-n,  lit.  to  know  (v.^')  is  adopted  from  the  Greek ;  7-ight  things 
is  suggested  by  23^*^.  The  form  of  v.'^''  is  taken  from  1^.  The 
term  write  is  suspicious,  since  elsewhere  in  the  Book  the  instruc- 
tion given  by  the  sages  is  oral ;  but  cf.  Eccl.  12'".  The  verb  sug- 
gests a  very  late  date  for  the  final  recension  of  our  passage.  For 
the  word  omitted  in  v.-""  I  can  offer  no  emendation ;  the  connec- 
tion suggests  a  word  =  "  wise  counsel  or  instruction  "  or  "  excel- 
lent things."  In  wr^'^ plans  and  knowledge  may  be  understood  as 
hendiadys,  =  plans  of  knowledge ;  on  plans  see  note  on  i'^^  (RV., 
there,  devices)  ;  we  might  perhaps  render  :  that  thy  counsels  (to 
others)    may  be  intelligent. 

Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  of  the  text,  the  general  thought 
of  the  paragraph  is  plain  :  the  pupil  is  to  devote  himself  to  study, 
in  order  that  his  religious  life  may  be  firmly  established,  and  that 

*  So  Saad.  Rashi,  Ew.  De.  Reuss,  Now.  Bick.  Frank. 


XXII.  21-23  425. 

he  may  be  able  to  give  wise  counsel  to  those  who  seek  advice. 
The  exhortation  supposes  a  community  in  which  study  is  valued 
and  provided  for  :  there  are  teachers  and  recognized  bodies  of 
truth  —  this  is  the  Jewish  reproduction  of  the  Greek  schools  of 
philosophy. 

XXII.  17,  18.  1^  D!:Dn,  though  given  in  the  Vrss.,  appears  to  be  a  gloss,  a 
marginal  title,  perhaps  originally  □:;3n"';  cf.  24'-'^.  (§  has  a  doublet,  one  form 
(Kttt  dKOve  ifiov  \6yov)  apparently  omitting  'n.  Read  ''']3-'.  —  |^  a^'j  13  ipyT?; 
(Q  'iva  yv(^s  Sti  KaXol  eicriv;  read  air''D  n>'"i'?  —  S2E  because  they  are  pleasant, 
keep  them  etc.  —  Bi.  inserts  \~ncNS  at  the  beginning  of  v.^^,  and  makes  v.^''-  '^^ 
triplets;  but  the  triplet  is  rather  to  be  avoided  than  sought  in  this  Section. — 
19,  20.  1^  nns  -ix  a»n  yields  no  good  sense;  (5  tii]v  odov  ffov  may  be  inter- 
pretation, the  n.nx  ix  being  carried  over  (Jager)  to  the  next  v.  (/cal  o-i)) ;  yet 
the  connection  favors  some  such  reading,  perh.  ''■23"'.  —  K  Dt''?:;',  Q  Di^"'!;'; 
(§  Tpiaaws;  IL  tripliciter ;  SCCS)  p^r  xn'?;!  "?;•.  The  embarrassment  of  the 
Grk.  translators  and  expounders  is  shown  by  the  variety  of  readings  in  v.^^-  '^, 
on  which  see  II-P,  Lag.  In  |§  rhi'.i  we  should  perhaps  write  ^  for  a.  — 
In  Megil.  y  a  f^  v.-"''  is  cited  (against  the  proposal  to  canonize  the  Book  of 
Esther)  as  showing  that  the  three  divisions  of  the  Canon  were  already  made 
up :  have  I  not  zuritten  three  (and  no  more)  ?  —  21.  |^  '^'^?'^  \  better,  perhaps, 
qTipn.  —  1^  ae'p  is  the  gloss  of  an  Aramaic-speaking  scribe.  ©  omits  'p,  but 
expands  the  line  by  a  second  clause;  %  appears  to  have  read  op^'  qiiiet  instead 
of  'p  (Pink.),  and  to  have  followed  (§  freely  in  its  insertion;  STiL  insert  1 
between  'p  and  ii"3N.  — 1§  inPj'':',  and  so  all  Vrss.  except  (@;  (§  rots  7rpo/3a\Xo- 
ix^vois  ffot,  for  which  Lag,  reads  rots  irpo^dWov(ri  croi,  =  I'l'^Nb'':'.     Read  sing. 

The  Maxims  of  the  Second  Collection  (22^^-24^*). 
22,  23.   Against  oppression  of  the  poor. 

22.  Rob  not  the  poor  because  he  is  poor, 
And  oppress  not  the  lowly  in  the  gate. 

23.  For  Yahweh  will  plead  their  cause, 
And  rob  their  robbers  of  life. 

22.  Synonymous,  ternary.  I'oor  (see  10^^)  and  /oza/y  (see  3^^) 
are  here  synonyms,  both  referring  to  physical  poverty,  which  car- 
ries with  it  low  social  position  and  defencelessness  {because  he  is 
poor).  Oppress,  =  crush,  =  "  rob  of  possessions."  The  ga/e  is 
the  place  of  dispensing  justice;  cf.  i-'  24'.  —  23.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Cf.  Ex.  2  2-'---''-°-^>  23*^  Dt.  24"' ^^  The  word  rendered 
roi>  (different  from  that  of  v.^^)  occurs  elsewhere  only  in  Mai.  3^® 


426  PROVERBS 

(where  VVellhausen  changes  the  text  so  as  to  read  cheat)  ;  its 
exact  meaning  is  not  certain,  but  some  such  sense  as  "rob,  cheat  " 
is  suggested  by  the  connection. 

24,  25.   Against  passionateness. 

24.  Consort  not  with  a  man  given  to  anger, 
And  go  not  with  a  passionate  man, 

25.  Lest  thou  learn  his  ways, 

And  bring  destruction  on  thyself. 

24.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Consort  not  zvith  (or,  be  not  frietidly 
with)  —  go  not  with.  Cf.  15' ^  —  25.  Single  sentence,  binary- 
ternary.  Learn  (=  accustom  thyself  to),  a  late,  poetic  word;  the 
stem  is  found  elsewhere  only  in  the  causative  form,  =  teach  (Job 
15^  -^-^"^  35")- — Ways  is  the  reading  of  the  Heb.  margin;  the 
text  has  way.  —  Destruction  is  lit.  a  snare,  which  is  explained  by 
some  *  as  =  danger,  but  the  suggestion  in  the  word  is  rather  death  ; 
see  12'^  13^*  14-''  29".  Anger  is  denounced  not  as  immoral,  but  as 
injurious  ;  the  obvious  implication,  however,  is  that  it  is  morally 
bad.  The  destruction  (or,  danger)  comes  through  the  violation 
of  human  law,  which  the  sage  doubtless  regards  as  also  divine  law. 
Cf.  BS.  S'^'l  — Bickell  (v.^-*"- ^sa)  .  ^,^^  ^^  not  friendly  with  a  pas- 
sionate man,  lest  thou  get  in  his  way,  that  is,  the  destruction 
comes  from  his  passionate  violence  (see  BS.  ubi  sup.)  —  but  the 
translation  is  lexicographically  doubtful. 

26,  27.   Against  going  security. 

26.  Be  not  of  those  who  pledge  themselves, 
Of  those  who  are  surety  for  debts. 

27.  If  thou  have  not  wherewith  to  pay, 
Thy  bed  will  be  taken  from  under  thee. 

26.  Synonymous,  binary.  Similar  cautions  in  6^  11'^  17^®  20^^ 
Pledge  themselves  is  lit.  strike  hands.  Are  surety  for  debts,  lit. 
bind  (ox,  pledge)  themselves  for  (other  persons')  loans.  —  27.  Sin- 
gle sentence,  ternary  (or,  binary-ternary).  Heb.:  tvhy  should 
one  (or,  he)  take  thy  bed  etc.?  the  why  is  scribal  repetition  (ditto- 
gram)  ;    the  question  would  be  appropriate  only  if  the  first  cl. 

*  E\v.  Reuss. 


XXII.  23-29  427 

were  omitted.      On  the   legal  right  of  the  creditor  to  seize  the 
debtor's  bed  see  notes  on  the  couplets  cited  above  (on  v.^^) . 

28.  Rights  of  property. 

Remove  not  the  ancient  landmark 
Which  thy  fathers  set-  up. 

Partially  synonymous  (second  cl.  explains  predicate  of  first  cl.), 
ternary.  The  couplet  is  substantially  identical  with  part  of  Dt. 
19".  As  citizenship  and  a  share  in  the  protection  of  the  tribal  or 
national  deity  were  regarded,  among  ancient  peoples,  as  depend- 
ent on  possession  of  land,  boundaries  were  treated  as  sacred,  and 
were  placed  under  the  protection  of  deities  (Zeus  Horios,  Ter- 
minus etc.).  The  land  of  the  poor  was  often  encroached  on  by 
the  rich  and  the  powerful  (i  K.  21^'  Hos.  5^°  Is.  5^  Dt.  27"  Job 
24^).  The  antiquity  of  a  boundary-line  {=  landmark)  gave  it 
special  sacredness.  Cf.  note  on  ^.f",  and  see  23^  which  is  a  vari- 
ation of  this  couplet.  —  Bickell  omits  the  couplet  as  a  shortened 
form  of  23^",  with  a  gloss  (the  second  cl.)  on  aticient  taken  from 
Dt.  19"  (in  which  the  Grk.  has  thy  fathers  instead  of  Heb.  they  of 
old).  It  is  true  that  we  expect  a  strophe  of  two  couplets  here,  as 
above,  and  there  is,  perhaps,  some  derangement  in  the  Heb.  text. 

29.   Praise  of  business  capacity. 

Seest  thou  a  man  skilful  in  business? 
Before  kings  he  shall  stand, 
Not  stand  before  obscure  men. 

The  triplet  form,  unusual  in  Pr.,  perhaps  indicates  the  loss  of  a 
Une.  Skilful,  as  in  Ezr.  f  ^  45''''  ^  the  Heb.  word  may  also  be 
rendered  quick,  swift,  and  so,  perhaps,  diligent  (RV.),  but  the 
suggestion  is  rather  of  readiness  and  skill.  Stafid  before  =  enter 
the  service  of .     Obscure;  'RN.inean. 

23.  On  the  meaning  of  V3p  cf.  Ges.  Thes.  and  Lag.  In  Arab,  the  stem 
=  hide,  in  Aram,  fx  firmly.  Possibly  we  should  read  3P> ;  in  Mai.  38- 9  & 
has  iTrTipvi<T€,  =  2p-;.  S>%  yno  take  revenge;  it  coufiget  {^  transfix).— 
27.  The  interrog.  in  b  is  not  given  by  ©S^T.  In  |t?  na'^  the  a^  seems  to  be 
dittogram  of  preceding  3^  (in  aV-'^).  — 29.  |§  rs  rvn;  (5  6p,xrcKbv  Mpa, 
=  niin  -C'H  (Jag.).  — Bi.  makes  a  couplet  of  ^  by  inserting  nj^n  after  t:\s. 


428  PROVERBS 

XXIII.  1,  2.    Good  manners  at  a  king's  table.  —  The  qua- 
train is  a  single  sentence,  ternary. 

1.  When  thou  sittest  to  eat  with  a  ruler, 
Consider  well  who  is  before  thee, 

2.  And  put  a  knife  to  thy  throat, 

If  thou  be  a  man  of  great  appetite. 

If  one  be  in  danger  of  excess  in  eating,  one  must  be  severely  cau- 
tious —  anything  like  voracity  will  excite  the  contempt,  and  per- 
haps the  hostility,  of  the  ruler.*  —  "  To  put  a  knife  to  the  throat " 
is  said  by  Fleischer  to  be  a  proverbial  expression  for  self-restraint ; 
one,  as  it  were,  threatens  to  kill  one's  self  if  one  misbehaves.  —  In 
v.^**  we  may  render  :  if  thou  have  a  great  appetite  (on  this  particu- 
lar occasion);  the  moral  is  the  same.  In  v.^**  lit. :  consider  him 
who  etc.  The  rendering  what  is  before  thee  (=  the  dishes)  is 
possible  —  it  would  enjoin  a  wise  choice  of  food  —  but  is  less 
probable  than  the  other ;  it  is  the  ruler  that  the  guest  must  have 
in  mind.  To  this  interpretation  it  may  be  objected  that  to 
describe  the  ruler  as  being  "  in  the  presence "  of  his  guest  is 
unseemly  —  rather  the  expression  should  be  :  consider  in  whose 
presence  thou  art  (so  Frank.)  ;  yet  see  Gen.  i8-^,  where  it  is  said 
(in  the  correct  text)  :  and  Yahweh  ivas  still  standing  before 
Abraham.  The  modern  courtliness  of  expression  appears  not  to 
have  been  the  rule  in  the  OT.  times. —  Ewald  :  thou  wilt  put  a 
knife  to  thy  throat  (=  wilt  bring  ruin  on  thyself)  if  thou  giz>e  free 
rein  to  desire  (that  is,  if  the  avaricious  ruler  perceive  that  thou 
too  art  avaricious)  ;  but  this  does  not  so  well  accord  with  the 
place  (the  dinner- table).  — Cf.  BS.  t,^^-'^^- 
In  the  Heb.  follows,  as  v.^,  the  couplet : 

Do  not  desire  his  dainties, 
Seeing  it  is  bread  of  deceit. 

This  appears  to  be  out  of  place,  since  the  point  in  the  preceding 
quatrain  is  control  of  appetite,  and  not  treachery  or  insincerity  on 
the  part  of  the  king.  The  first  cl.  is  identical  with  second  cl.  of 
v.^,  where  it  is  appropriate,  and  whence  it  may  by  mistake  have 


*  Cf.  Prisse  Papyrus,  Sect.  2  (translated  by  Griffith,  in  Lib.  0/  the  World's  Best 
Z?/.,  Vol.  13),  and  Malan. 


XXIII.  1-5  429 

got  to  this  place  (so  Bickell).     The  second  cl.  also  is  misplaced 

—  the  sing,  it  does  not  accord  with  the  plu.  dainties.  Bickell 
places  it  after  first  cl.  of  v.^  —  Bread  of  deceit  is  food  offered  with 
deceitful  purpose.  Cf.  Pirke  Aboih,  2,  3  :  "be  cautious  in  inter- 
course with  the  powerful ;  they  are  friendly  only  so  long  as  they 
can  use  men  for  their  own  interests." 

4,  5.   Against  anxiety  for  wealth. 

4.  Toil  not  to  make  thyself  rich, 
From  such  a  <  purpose  >  desist, 

5.  For  <  riches  >  makes  itself  wings 
As  an  eagle  that  heavenward  flies. 

4.  Synonymous,  binary.  First  clause  :  "  make  not  wearisome 
effort  (=  take  no  pains)  to  become  rich,"  that  is,  it  is  not  worth 
the  trouble.  The  second  cl.  is  lit.  from  thy  wisdom  (or  laider- 
standing,  or  intelligence)  desist  (RV.  cease  from  thine  own  wisdoni), 
which  appears  to  say  that  the  man  holds  it  wise  to  get  riches ; 
this  is  a  singular  form  of  expression,  and  is  certainly  not  the  point 
of  the  couplet.     Some  such  term  as  purpose  must  be  understood. 

—  5.  The  Heb.  text  is  in  disorder  :  lit.  shall  thine  eye  fly  to  (or, 
071)  it,  and  it  is  gone  (lit.  is  not)  ?  (or,  Heb.  marg.,  make  thine  eye 
fly  to  it  etc.),  for  it  assuredly  makes  itself  wings  etc.,  in  which  the 
"  flying  of  the  eye  "  is  an  impossible  expression,  and  the  //  has  no 
antecedent.  The  first  y?}'  appears  to  be  a  sciibal  insertion  from  the 
nearly  identical  form  {flies)  at  the  end  ;  the  expression  tJmte  eye 
(is)  on  it,  and  it  is  gone  is  a  gloss  on  the  couplet  (describing  the 
fleeting  character  of  riches)  —  cf.  Job  7* ;  the  asstiredly  is  mis- 
writing  of  the  word  for  riches.  The  couplet,  thus  restored, 
expresses  simply  and  effectively  the  reason  why  one  should  not  be 
anxious  to  be  rich.  The  rendering  of  RV.  :  wilt  thou  set  thine 
eyes  upon  that  which  is  not?  is  not  permitted  by  the  Heb.;  see 
RV.  margin,  where  the  correct  translation  is  given. 

6-8^,  3b.   The  niggardly  (or,  churlish)  host. 

6.      Eat  not  the  bread  of  a  niggard, 

And  desire  not  his  dainties. 
"J a.  (?)  For  as  he  deals  with  himself, 
T  b.  So  he  deals  with  thee  (?). 


430  PROVERBS 

7  c.   "  Eat  and  drink,"  he  says, 

7  d.  But  his  heart  is  not  with  thee. 

8  a.  The  morsel  thou  eatest  thou  must  spit  out, 
3  d.   For  it  is  bread  of  deceit. 

6.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Niggai-d  is  lit.  a  tnan  of  evil  eye, 
illnatured,  ungenerous,  iniiospitable  ;  the  expression  occurs  in  OT. 
only  here  and  in  28''^  (cf.  22^)  ;  see  in  Pirke  Aboth  5,  13  four 
classes  of  the  "evil-eyed."  The  eye  represents  the  look  with 
which  one  regards  men,  and  evil  (or,  bad^  is  simply  the  opposite 
of  good  and  kind.  In  our  couplet  either  niggard  or  churl  suits 
the  connection.  —  7.  The  Heb.  of  the  first  couplet  (which  has 
apparently  lost  some  word  or  words)  hardly  admits  of  a  satisfac- 
tory translation.  The  renderings  :  as  he  reckons  ivithin  himself 
(ht.  in  his  soul),  so  is  he  (RV.)  ;  as  one  tvho  reckons  etc.  (De. 
Reuss)  ;  as  he  had  decided  etc.  (Saad.)  ;  after  he  has  reckoned  in 
his  {jiiggardlyi)  soul,  then  he  says  to  thee  etc.  (Frank.)  've  no  nat- 
ural sense,  and  do  not  connect  themselves  with  the  context ;  to 
describe  the  churl  simply  as  a  calculating  person,  looking  after  his 
own  interest,  is  not  what  we  expect,  nor  would  this  be  a  natural 
way  of  expressing  that  idea.  Moreover  the  translation  reckon 
(derived  from  the  later  Jewish  usage)  is  open  to  doubt.  Bickell 
emends  so  as  to  read  :  for  selfish  and  calculating  is  he  in  soul,  but 
with  his  lips  ?iot  so  is  he,  in  which  the  two  adjectives  are  both 
doubtful.  Possibly  :  for  not  as  he  is  with  his  lips,  so  is  he  in  his 
soul;  or,  for  kindness  is  on  his  lips,  but  in  his  soul  he  is  not  so  ; 
or,  as  the  verse  is  rendered  above  :  "  he  deals  stingily  with  thee, 
as  with  himself."  —  8.  According  to  a  possible  rendering,  the 
sage,  continuing  the  injunction  (after  eat  not),  bids  the  guest  spit 
out,  as  something  offensive,  any  morsel  ( =  any  small  bit)  which 
he  may  have  eaten  ;  but  it  is  probably  better  to  translate  by  thou 
must  (or,  wilt)  spit  out  (or,  vomit  up)  the  disgusting  morsel 
which  offends  the  taste  or  turns  the  stomach  —  the  verb  will  then 
describe  simply  the  result  of  the  eating.  —  As  second  cl.  the  Heb. 
has  :  and  thou  wilt  lose  thy  pleasant  words,  a  statement  which  has 
only  a  farfetched  relation  to  the  preceding  context  (it  would 
mean  that  the  guest  had  thrown  away  his  agreeable  conversation 
or  his  thanks  on  the  host),  but  connects  itself  naturally  with  v.", 
to  which  it  should  be  transferred.     What  we  here  expect  is  a  line 


XXIII.  6-IO  431 

describing  the  disgusting  morsel,  and  this  may  perhaps  be  given 
by  second  cl.  of  v.'' :  it  is  bread  of  deceit,  that  is,  not  offered  in 
true  hospitality.  —  In  any  case  the  paragraph  is  a  maxim  of  social 
intercourse,  a  caution  against  indiscriminate  dining  out.  Cf.  BS. 
2922-2*. 

9,  8b.  Do  not  try  to  teach  a  fool. 

9.  Speak  not  to  a  foul. 

For  he  will  despise  thy  wise  discourse, 
8  b.   And  thou  wilt  throw  away  thy  goodly  words. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.  Lit. :  speak  not  in  the  ears  of  a  fool, 
that  is,  so  that  he  can  distinctly  hear,  not  merely  "  speak  in  his 
hearing"  (RV.)  ;  the  expression  "uncover  the  ear,"  =  "reveal  a 
secret"  (i  Sam.  22*)  is  different.  —  Lit.  despise  the  imsdoni  of  thy 
words.  On  fool  and  wisdom  see  i^^  12^.  —  The  suggestion*  that 
8''  be  attached  to  this  couplet  commends  itself  as  good;  the 
change  makes  a  natural  connection.  Lit. :  thou  wilt  lose  (or, 
r///«)  thy  goodly  {ox,  pleasant)  words  ;  the  2id].  goodly  {GxV.  beau- 
tiful, or  good)  occurs  nowhere  else  as  epithet  of  words  —  it 
appears  to  belong  to  the  philosophical  vocabulary  (Grk.  KaAo's), 
in  which  "  beautiful  "  and  "good  "  are  synonyms. f  —  A  line,  nec- 
essary to  form,  with  S*",  a  couplet,  has  perhaps  been  lost  —  some- 
thing like  "  thou  wilt  weary  thyself  in  vain."  —  Cf.  9*  26*^  BS.  22'^ 

10,  11.   Respect  the  land  of  widows  and  orphans. 

10.  Remove  not  the  landmark  of  i  the  widow,' 
Into  the  field  of  the  orphan  enter  not; 

11.  For  their  redeemer  is  mighty, 

He  will  plead  their  cause  against  thee. 

10.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Heb.  :  the  ancient  landmark,  proba- 
bly taken  from  22^^  or  Dt.  19";  the  parallelism  favors  widow  (the 
graphic  difference  is  not  great  in  Heb.)  as  natural  correspondent 
to  orphaji  \  ;    for  the  collocation  of  the  terms  see  Dt.  10*  14^^  al. 

*  Pinsker,  Babyl.-Hebr.  Punkfatiotis-sysiem ,  p.  134. 

t  Such  terms  may  have  been  introduced  in  imitation  of  Greek  phraseology. 
The  question  whether  there  was  such  borrowing  is  discussed  in  recent  works  on 
Ecclesiastes  (Tyler,  Plumptre,  Renan,  Wright,  Siegfried),  and  cf.  Siegfried,  in 
Z.  Wiss.  Jheol.,  1875,  Pfleiderer,  Her'adit,  Bois,  Phil.  Judeo-Alex. 

X  So  Dys.  Bi.  Wild. 


432  PROVERBS 

Jer.  7^  Job  22^  2^  al.  ^  146".  — 11.  Single  sentence,  binary-ter- 
nary. Redeemer  (or,  protector^  is  the  technical  term  goel,  the 
next  of  kin,  whose  duty  it  was,  under  the  Hebrew  law,  to  redeem 
the  lands  of  kinsfolk  which  had  for  any  reason  been  alienated. 
Here  the  supposition  is  that  there  is  no  human  goel,  in  which  case 
God  himself  will  act  as  protector.  For  the  function  of  the  goel 
in  regard  to  land  see  Lev.  25^  (cf.  Nu.  5*)  Ruth  4^^  —  Cf.  note 

on    2  2-**. 

XXIII.  1.  pj  I^JdS  Ti'K  PN;  (5  TO.  wapaTLd^tJ.evd  coi.  (and  so  SSTE). — 
2.  1^  ^;''^3.  The  air.  \ey.  -^^  has  been  rendered  by  throat  from  Saad.  on 
(Rashi:  throat,  lit.  jaws),  which  seems  required  by  the  ]Trc  nn"'i.  The  verb 
has  the  sense  swallow  in  Ob.^^,  and  in  Aram.  =  lap  (cf.  Arab.  i'Si);  the  noun 
in  Aram.  =  chin,  and  is  here  rendered  by  2C  chin,  by  S  month.  It  was 
perhaps  a  general  designation  of  the  parts  concerned  in  swallowing,  with 
different  special  applications  in  the  various  dialects.  Lag. :  in  thy  longing, 
from  stem  ^'^  =  >J'^i  (in  Arab,  desire'),  but  this  does  not  go  well  with  the 
preceding  words. — 4.  |§  Tiivn':';  (g  TrXouo-iy,  =  nt;';'^  (Hitz.).  —  5.  |^  nr>'; 
read  -\'&;.  —  K  ^r;\;  read  Q  fiU".  —  7-  |^  -^"y;  (5  Tpix«>  =  ■^"'^■>  ^nd  so  Si\ 
2t  >'ir,  =  """i;';  3L  quoniam  in  siinilitndine  arioli  et  coniectoris  aesti?nat  quod 
ignorat,  apparently  free  rendering  of  |^  taken  as  =  "  guess,  predict."  The 
stem  —  in  Aram,  estimate,  reckon,  in  Arab,  know,*  neither  of  which  senses 
suits  here;  the  word  is  probably  error  of  text.  Frank,  takes  123  as  conjunc- 
tion (after  the  Aram.),  —  after,  and  regards  the  words  nPiT'i  Son*  as  citation 
placed  between  the  subj.  xin  and  the  verb  irs"';  but  this  rendering  of  ^:;d  is 
without  authority,  the  corresponding  sense  of  \-,  then,  is  equally  doubtful,  and 
the  interposition  of  a  speech  between  subj.  and  verb  is  unexampled  in  Hebrew. 
Bi.  T.'t'i  dd;  the  sense  he  attributes  to  the  former  of  these,  holding  back, 
=  self-seeking,  is  doubtful,  and  the  occurrence  together  of  two  Aram,  words, 
otherwise  unknown  in  OT.,  would  be  somewhat  strange.  Possibly  we  should 
read:  "jO  n:;';'i  )d  xz'^'ii  nj-;-'  i:;^.  —  9.  The  noun  '"?!;•  occurs,  in  preexilic 
writings,  only  in  i  vS.  25^;  it  became  a  term  of  the  gnomic  literature.  —  V.^"^ 
(properly  added  after  v.^)  is  expanded  by  Bi.  into  a  couplet  by  the  insertion 
of  Ti^cv  p-^  after  the  first  word;  it  would  be  rhythmically  better  to  keep  v.^'' 
as  a  line,  and  insert  a  second  full  line  parallel  to  it.  — 10.  |^  a"?;';  read  hjdSn. 

12.  Introductory  exhortation. 

Apply  thy  mind  to  instruction 

And  thine  ear  to  words  of  knowledge. 

*  On  the  old- Arab,  poet  as  =  seer,  diviner,  cf.  I.  Goldziher,  in  Trans,  of  Tenth 
Intertiat.  Congr.  of  Orientalists. 


XXIII.  II-I6  433 

Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  The  appeal  is  similar  to  that  in 
2  2^^  23^^- ^^■'"•-®;  it  is  intended  to  call  special  attention  to  what  fol- 
lows, and  perhaps  once  introduced  a  longer  collection  of  apho- 
risms.     See  note  on  i^ 

13,  14.   Training  of  children. 

13.  Withhold  not  chastisement  from  the  child; 

If  thou  beat  him  with  the  rod,  he  will  not  die. 

14.  Thou  must  beat  him  with  the  rod, 
And  rescue  him  thus  from  Sheol. 

Ternary.  The  two  couplets  are  mutually  identical  in  meaning, 
perhaps  independent  variations  on  the  same  theme.  Chastise- 
ment represents  the  same  Heb.  word  as  instruction  in  v.^^ ;  the 
connection  indicates  that  it  here  means  corporal  correction  or 
instruction.  The  second  cl.  of  v.'^  reads  lit.  :  and  deliver  his  life 
(lit.  soul)  from  ShcoL  The  implication  is  that  ill  conduct  brings 
physical  death,  by  human  and  divine  law ;  from  this  fate  the  child 
is  saved  by  instruction,  in  which  corporal  chastisement  is  recog- 
nized as  a  universal  and  necessary  means;  see  notes  on  19'^  22''. 
On  death  and  Sheol  see  notes  on  2'^  i^^ 

15, 16.  Exhortation  to  the  pupil. 

15.  My  son,  if  thou  be  wise, 
I  shall  be  glad; 

16.  I  shall  rejoice 

When  thou  speakest  right  things. 

The  quatrain  is  chiastic,  the  fourth  line  being  parallel  to  the  first, 
the  third  to  the  second.  The  first  couplet  is  ternary,  the  second, 
as  the  text  stands,  binary-ternary,  but  a  word  may  be  lacking.  — 
The  second  cl.  of  v.'^  has  Ht. :  /  also,  here  —  "  I,  on  my  side  "  — 
"wisdom  for  thee,  gladness  for  me."  The  same  contrast  exists  in 
\}^,  though  the  word  also  is  not  there  written. —  In  second  cl.  of 
v.^^  the  subject  is  my  heart,  =  my  jnitid,  =  myself;  in  first  cl.  of 
v.^®  the  subject  is  my  kidneys  (RV.  reins),  —  my  mind,  =  myself. 
The  Hebrews  regarded  both  the  heart  and  the  kidneys  (on 
account  of  their  physiological  importance)  as  seats  of  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  life,  and  the  two  terms  are  in  this  respect 
treated  as  synonyms  (Jer.  ii""  17""  ip  26");  both  are  regarded  also 


434  PROVERBS 

as  seats  of  physical  life.  Whether  or  not  there  was  some  specific 
difference  in  the  intellectual  functions  ascribed  to  them  the  state- 
ments of  OT.  do  not  indicate.  —  On  right  things  see  note  on  i^ 
—  It  does  not  appear  why  this  hortatory  address  is  inserted  just 
here.  Possibly  the  section  is  a  collection  of  fragments,  and  the 
following  quatrain,  which  this  address  introduces,  is  only  a  part  of 
a  paragraph. 

17,  18.  Reward  of  fearing  God. 

17.  Do  not  envy  sinners, 

But  fear  thou  Yahweh  always, 

18.  For  there  is  a  future. 

And  thy  hope  will  not  come  to  naught. 

17.  Antithetic,  ternary.  The  second  cl.  reads  in  the  Heb.  :  but 
in  the  fear  of  Yahweh  all  the  day,  an  incomplete  sentence.  The 
line  has  been  rendered  :  but  those  who  are  in  the  fear  of  V.  etc. 
(Saad.),  but  the  insertion  of  those  who  are  is  not  allowable,  and 
the  verb  emn',  in  this  construction,  is  always  used  in  a  bad  sense. 
This  latter  objection  applies  to  the  translation  :  but  on  account  of 
the  fear  etc.,  that  is,  =  "  seek  after  not  sinners  but  the  fear  of 
God  "  *  ;  this  rendering  is  forced  and  contrary  to  usage.  By 
others  t  the  Subst.  Verb  is  supplied  in  second  cl.  :  but  be  thou  in 
the  fear  etc. ;  this  also  violates  the  usage  of  the  language.  A  simple 
change  in  the  Heb.  gives  the  reading  :  but  fear  thou  Yahweh  etc. 
(cf.  24-^),  which  follows  naturally  on  first  cl.  —  In  first  cl.  lit.  let  not 
thy  heart  envy  etc.  — 18.  The  second  cl.  expands  and  explains  first 
cl.  The  introductory  particle  of  the  Heb.  is  a  compound,  lit.  "  for 
if."  The  renderings yi^r  J-// ;r/v  (RV.)  and  rather  (Ew.)  are  syntac- 
tically impossible.  It  is  better  (with  Saad.)  to  omit  the  if,  which 
may  be  scribal  repetition  from  the  preceding  couplet.  —  The  word 
future  (lit.  end)  may  signify  the  last  part  of  a  man's  life  (5*"  19"° 
Job  8^  ^  sf^)  or  of  a  certain  period  of  time  (Isa.  46"),  or  the  result 
or  outcome  of  a  thing  or  act  (14^--^^  16-')  ;  here  the  reference  is 
to  the  termination  (RV.  marg.  sequel)  and  the  outcome  of  the 
righteous  man's  life,  and  the  word  nearly  =  reward  (so  RV.). 
The  outcome  (=  the  hofe)  is  long  life  and  prosperity,  as  in  2^^ 

*  Schult.  Hitz.  De.  Zock.  Wild.  al.  f  Grk.  Lat.  Ew.  Reuss,  Bi.  RV. 


XXIII.  I6-2I  435 

y.8  io27-28  J  2"  1432  {contra,  of  the  wicked,  10-^  11"),  not  the  hfe 
beyond  the  grave.  Grk. :  posterity.  —  The  form  of  first  cl.  is 
somewhat  strange ;  everywhere  else  (except  in  the  identical 
phrase  in  24")  the  term  end  is  defined  by  some  special  word  or 
(Isa.  46^")  by  the  context,  and  here  Grk.  adds  for  thee.  Reuss, 
not  so  well :  everything  has  an  end  at  last;  this  expresses  resigna- 
tion, but  the  connection  suggests  confidence. 

19-21.  Exhortation.  Warning  against  drunkenness  and 
gluttony. 

°  *^  19.    Hearken,  my  son,  and  be  wise, 

And  walk  in  the  path  of  <  prudence 

20.  Be  not  thou  among  winebibbers, 
Among  gluttonous  eaters  of  flesh; 

21.  For  drunkard  and  glutton  come  to  poverty. 
And  drowsiness  clothes  one  in  rags. 

19.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  second  cl.  is  Ut.  :  make  thy  heart 
walk  {^^  guide  thy  heart')  in  the  way  ;  on  the  verb  of  the  Heb.  see 
notes  on  4^**  9^  The  way,  according  to  this  reading,  is  the  path 
of  rectitude  or  wisdom  ;  cf.  Jno.  14**  and  the  Buddhist  and  Moslem 
use  of  the  term  for  the  rule  of  life  which  leads  to  perfection  and 
happiness.  But  the  term  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  Prov.  in  this 
absolute  (undefined)  sense,  and  the  text  must  be  changed  so  as 
to  read  a  word  (as  prudence  or  understanding,  cf.  9'"')  parallel  to 
the  wise  of  the  first  line.  —  20.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Winebib- 
bers =  "  those  who  drink  wine  to  excess  "  or  "drunkards  in  wine." 
Gluttonous  eaters  (one  word  in  the  Heb.),  lit.  "squanderers, 
excessive  consumers."  The  flesh  is  not  their  own  bodies,  as  if 
drunkards  were  described  as  self-destroyers  (Ges.  Ew.  a/.),  but 
(as  the  parallelism  shows)  meat  consumed  at  table.  —  21.  Par- 
allel, ternary.  Drunkard,  the  same  word  as  in  v.^  above  {bibber, 
without  the  wine). — The  drowsiness  (or,  sleepyheadedness)  is  the 
torpor  which  follows  excessive  eating  and  drinking.     Cf.  Pirk  Ab. 

z,  3. 

22-25.  Value  of  parental  instruction  and  approval. — V.^^ 
(which  is  wanting  in  the  Grk.)  belongs  more  naturally  with  v.'^. 
Bickell  omits  v.^'',  makes  a  quatrain  of  v."'  '*,  and  regards  v.^'  as  an 
appendix  of  the  editor.      The  paragraph  interrupts  the  series  of 


436  PROVERBS 

injunctions  relating  to  definite  lines  of  conduct,  and  was  probably 
here  inserted  by  a  scribe  or  editor.  It  belongs  more  properly  at 
the  beginning  of  the  series,  just  after  22^^ 

22.  Hearken  to  the  father  who  begat  thee, 
And  despise  not  «the  words  of'  thy  mother. 

23.  Buy  the  truth,  and  sell  it  not. 
Wisdom,  instruction,  and  understanding. 

24.  The  father  of  a  righteous  man  will  be  glad, 
The  <  mother  >  of  a  wise  son  will  rejoice. 

25.  Let  thy  father  []  rejoice, 
Let  thy  mother  be  glad ! 

22.  Parallel,  ternary.  Lit.  thy  father  who  etc.  The  injunction 
relates  not  to  honoring  parents,  but  to  heeding  their  instruction. 
Hence  the  Heb.  of  second  cl.,  despise  not  thy  mother  when  (or, 
because')  she  is  old,  does  not  accord  with  first  cl. ;  BS.  3"  exhorts 
a  son  not  to  despise  his  father  when  the  old  man's  intellect  fails, 
and  we  might  suppose  a  similar  reference  to  the  aged  and  faihng 
mother  here,  but  the  question  in  the  paragraph  is  one  not  of  age, 
but  of  instruction,  and  it  seems  better  to  change  the  text  accord- 
ingly; cf.  1^*  —  23.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Cf.  4^'  15'^  The 
nouns  are  here  substantially  synonyms  :  instruction  is  training  in 
truth;  understanding  and  wisdom  are  perception  and  practical 
knowledge  of  truth;  see  notes  on  3^  i^.  —  24.  Parallel,  ternary. 
In  second  cl.  the  Heb.  has  the  begetter  of  a  wise  jnafi,  but  the  par- 
allelism and  v.^  suggest  mention  of  the  mother.  —  25.  Parallel, 
binary.  In  first  cl.  the  Heb.  has  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  but 
as  mother  (lit.  she  who  bore  thee)  stands  properly  in  second  cl.  as 
obvious  parallel  to  the_/a//!<fr  of  first  cl.,  it  should  not  be  anticipated. 

26.  Exhortation  (introductory  to  the  two  following  paragraphs). 

Give  heed,  my  son,  to  me. 

Let  thine  eyes  take  note  of  my  ways. 

Synonymous,  ternary.  The  first  cl.  is  ht.  my  son,  give  me  thy 
heart,  that  is,  thy  mind,  thine  attention  (not  thy  affection,  or,  thy 
spiritual  devotion).  As  all  other  introductory  exhortations  in 
this  Section  are  by  the  sage,  there  is  no  ground  for  holding  that 

*  With  the  expression  thy  father  who  begat  thee  cf.  the  phrase,  frequent  in  the 
Assyrian  royal  inscriptions,  my  father,  my  begetter. 


xxiii.  22-28  437 

the  speaker  here  is  Wisdom,  and  that  she  is  contrasted  with  the 
harlot  of  v.-\  as  the  two  characters  are  contrasted  in  ch.  9  *  ;  the 
exhortation  in  7^^  also  is  by  the  sage  (cf.  y*) .  —  The  reading  take 
note  of  {=  "watch,  for  the  purpose  of  following")  is  that  of  the 
Heb.  margin  and  of  most  Anc.  Vrss. ;  the  Heb.  text  has  delight  m 
(so  RV.),  which  gives  a  good  sense,  but  the  other  reading  is  a 
common  term  in  Pr.  (3^  4^^^  6^  al.^,  while  delight  in  occurs  else- 
where in  the  Book  only  once  (3^'),  and  then  does  not  refer  to 
instruction.  For  the  sense  take  note  of  c(.  Nah.  2^^-^ :  "keep  an 
eye  on  the  fortification,  watch  the  way."  See  note  on  22^^. — 
The  ways  of  the  sage  are  those  which  he  enjoins ;  cf.  22^'^''^ 

27,  28.   Warning^  against  the  harlot. 

27.  The  harlot  is  a  deep  pit, 
The  adulteress  a  narrow  well. 

28.  Yea,  she  lies  in  wait  like  a  robber, 
Many  are  they  she  <  plunders.' 

27.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Adulteress,  lit.  strange  woman ;  see 
note  on  2'^  She  is  a  married  woman,  in  character  a  harlot ;  see 
y5.  io_  'j-j-jg  j-^yQ  lines  apparently  introduce  the  two  classes  of 
unchaste  women,  the  unmarried  and  the  married  ;  but  the  same 
destructive  character  is  ascribed  to  both.  For  ///  (RV.  ditcli) 
see  22"  Jer.  2"  18-"--.  Well  (RV.  ///)  is  here  used  in  its  hteral 
sense,  not  figuratively  as  in  5'^  (cf.  \\i  55^^"*^  69^^^^^').  The  nar- 
rowness of  the  well  (or,  pit)  would  make  it  harder  to  get  out 
when  one  had  fallen  in.  —  The  conjunction/^;-,  with  which,  in  the 
Heb.,  the  couplet  begins,  may  introduce  it  as  the  ground  of  the 
exhortation   of  v.^,   or   may   be   incorrect    scribal    insertion. — 

28.  Parallel,  ternary.  Yea  (=  also^  introduces  an  additional 
thought :  she  is  not  only  a  pit  into  which  the  unwary  may  fall,  a 
passive  danger,  she  is  also  an  active  danger,  like  a  robber  who 
attacks.  This  word  for  robber  occurs  only  here  in  OT. ;  the 
expression  cannot  be  rendered  as  for  a  prey  (RV.  marg.).  —  The 
second  cl.  reads  in  the  Heb.  :  and  the  faithless  among  men  she 
makes  many  (RV.  increases').  Faithless  may  mean  "unfaithful  to 
the  law  of  God"  (2'^  ii^*'  13^  ^^  21^*  22^^),  or,  "untrustworthy" 
(25'^)  ;    the  second  cl.  might  be  rendered  :    she  increases,  among 

*  De.  Now.  Str.  Wild. 


438  PROVERBS 

meti,  the  sinners,  or,  she  increases  the  sinners  among  men.  But 
the  parallelism  suggests  for  second  line  a  term  similar  to  the 
robber  of  first  line,  and  a  change  of  vowels  gives  treacheries  (Jer. 
12^  Isa.  2^^),=^  wickednesses  (cf.  22^^),  instead  oi  faithless  (or, 
sinners)  ;  the  woman's  treachery  is  that  of  a  robber  or  plunderer. 
Render  :  plundering  of  men  she  practises  largely,  or,  as  above, 
many  are  they  etc. 

13.  |§  "i^  is  omitted  by  Bi.,  but  this  seems  unnecessary.  — 17.  f^  nsi^a; 
read  dn  n-\\  — 19.  The  Piel  -icn  means  not  guide,  or  set  right  (in  Isa.  i^''  the 
word  is  prolDably  error  of  text),  and  "yy^  cannot  be  taken  as  =  right  way,  or, 
absolutely  the  way ;  we  might  perhaps  read  lU'i  make  right  (Frank.,  and, 
apparently,  ©),  but  the  resulting  sentence  is  not  quite  natural,  and  the 
parallelism  suggests  a  term  corresponding  to  Don;  read  nj3  1^3  "iC'N. — 
20,  21.  <B  (TV/jL^oXaTs  (cf.  %  symbola  in  v.^i),  in  its  sense  of  feasts  may 
well  =  KpeQv  dyopaa/xoh,  and  may  represent  |^  i*?*??  eoiisumers.  The  Grk. 
term  is  adopted  in  the  Talmud  (nSao),  but  it  seems  unnecessary  to  suppose, 
with  Lag.,  that  it  here  renders  p^^'^aiDJ,  scribal  repetition  of  '^  ]•>''  iNaba. — 
ncij  is  dir.  Xey.  —  22.  On  nr  as  Rel.  Pron.  see  the  grammars.  —  |^  idn  njiir  ^d 
does  not  accord  with  the  rest  of  the  strophe,  and  the  '?  ''3  appears  to  be  a  gloss 
which  displaced  the  original  word  '-icx  or  n3T  or  iDC.  Bi. :  idd  ]pj,  but 
y_24. 25  niake  it  probable  that  the  reference  to  the  mother  should  be  retained 
here.  —  23.  The  couplet  should  perhaps  stand  at  the  beginning  of  this  strophe, 
or  it  may  be  omitted.  —  24.  Read  Q  ^U''  ^v.  —  If  masc.  l^''  be  retained,  then 
Q  r\DSf]  must  be  adopted  (the  connecting  1  of  K  would  here  imply  that  Sr  is 
repeated) ;  but  it  seems  better  to  preserve  the  antithesis  of  v.--  25^  and  read 
m'^''  and  na^T,  in  which  the  n  may  perhaps  account  for  the  m  of  K  nDrM.  — 
25.'  Omit  ?§  qDNi.  — 26.  K  njsnn;  Q,  better,  njn-xr.  —  27.  |§  ripi^y  nntr  (of 
the  harlot),  which  (5  (cf.  22^*)  renders  by  widos  Terpyjiiivos;  the  expression  is 
taken  (Jag.)  from  a  Grk.  proverb,  which  is  cited  by  Erasmus  (I.  10,  33)  from 
Aristotle  {Econ.  i.  6)  — to  get  riches  without  being  able  to  keep  it  is  "  to  draw 
water  in  a  sieve  and  a  perforated  tub";  thus  the  aWbTpLos  oUos  (|^  nir)  is 
wasteful  and  destructive  (see  Lag.).  —  28.  The  air,  Xey.  f|Pn  is,  from  the 
connection,  a  concrete  noun,  =  robber  (in  form  like  TiSc) ;  the  verb  f|rn 
occurs  once  (Job  912).  The  stem  is  written  with  n  here  and  Job  9^2.  ^\^^. 
where  (Ju.  2121  -^  lo^)  written  with  a,  as  in  Aramaic.  —  ?§  o^.'^;  read,  from 
the  parallelism,  ii3,  or  mn  (cf.  Frank.). 

29-35.   Against  drunkenness. 

29.  Who  cries  "woe"?  who  "alas"?  who  has  strifes?  who  complaints? 
Who  has  wounds  without  cause?  who  redness  of  eyes? 

30.  They  who  linger  long  over  wine, 
Who  often  taste  mixed  wine. 


XXIII.  28-31  439 

31.  Look  not  on  wine  when  it  is  red, 
When  it  sparkles  in  the  cup.     []  * 

32.  At  the  end  it  bites  like  a  snake, 
It  pierces  like  an  adder. 

;i;i.    Thou  wilt  see  strange  things, 
Queer  things  thou  wilt  say. 

34.  Thou  wilt  be  like  one  who  is  sleeping  at  sea, 
Like  one  asleep  in  a  i  violent  storm.' 

35.  "  I  have  been  .struck,  but  I  feel  no  pain, 

I  have  been  beaten,  I  am  not  conscious  of  it. 
When  shall  I  awake  <  from  my  wine '  ? 
I  will  seek  it  yet  again." 

200  General  parallelism,  quaternary  (or,  a  quatrain).  A  lively 
description  of  the  bodily  effects  of  excess  in  wine.  Instead  of 
nouns  the  first  line  uses  interjections  —  lit. :  7a/io  has  oh .'  who 
has  alas  !  The  man  quarrels  over  his  cups,  gets  into  difficulties, 
whence  complaints  (Job  10^  21*  23^  i/^  64^'-^)  ;  in  scuffles  he  is 
wounded  (cf.  Zech.  13")  without  cause,  that  is,  unnecessarily,  for 
those  slight  and  groundless  differences  that  arise  among  drunken 
men;  his  eyes,  by  their  dulness  or  redness  (cf.  Gen.  49'"),  pro- 
claim his  dissipation,  and  indicate  that  he  is  not  fit  for  work.  — 
30.  Synonymous,  ternary,  or  binary-ternary.  How  mixed  wine 
(lit.  simply  mixture)  was  prepared  is  not  known,  perhaps  by 
adding  spices  ;  cf.  note  on  2o\ — Lit.  go  to  try,  =  investigate,  test, 
taste;  the  man  is  a  devotee  —  he  drinks  continually.  —  31.  Sec- 
ond line  =  predicate  of  first  hne,  ternary.  Description  of  wine 
when  complete  fermentation  has  taken  place.  The  wine  of 
Canaan  seems  to  have  been  red ;  cf.  the  expression  "  the  blood  of 
the  grape"  (Gen.  49"),  and  Is.  63^"^  —  Sparkles  is  lit.  gives  its 
gleam  (the  term  rendered  gleam  is  the  ordinary  word  for  eye), 
that  is,  is  full  of  life.  — The  Heb.  adds  :  it  goes  straight  (cf.  Cant. 
y9(io)^  .  ^j^jg  jjQgg  jjQj.  accord  well  with  the  rest  of  the  couplet,  and 
appears,  as  the  text  stands,  to  be  a  gloss,  explaining  that  wine  in 
this  state  gUdes  straight  or  smoothly  down  the  throat ;  the  expres- 
sion was  perhaps  here  inserted  from  Canticles,  and  was  possibly 
meant  as  contrast  to  v.^'.  Or,  it  may  be  original,  in  which  case 
we  should  perhaps  read  :  At  first  it  glides  smoothly  down,  over  the 

*  The  Heb.  adds  :  i/  goes  straight  (or,  smoothly). 


440  PROVERBS 

lips  and  the  palate,  but  at  last  it  bites  etc.  We  should  thus  have  a 
quatrain  instead  of  the  couplet,  v.^-,  or  the  triplet,  v.^^"-^^  — 
32.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary  (the  second  Une  is  perhaps 
defective).  Lit.:  its  end  is :  it  bites  etc.  The  rendering  a^'^i??' 
is  uncertain  —  the  species  of  snake  meant  is  not  known  (Jer.  8^^ 
Is.  11^  59^)-  —  The  precise  signification  of  the  verb  in  second  line 
is  not  sure  (it  must  be  a  synonym  of  bites')  ;  it  has  been  rendered 
stings  *  =:  pierces,  and  poisons. ^  The  point  of  comparison  is  the 
deadly  character  of  the  result,  but  there  may  also  be  allusion  to 
the  silent,  treacherous  attack  of  the  snake.  —  33.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Lit.:  thine  eyes  will  see  .  .  .  thy  heart  (=  thoii)  will 
speak.  Description  of  the  erratic  fancies  and  fantastic  talk  of  the 
drunken  man  —  perhaps  reference  to  delirium  tremens.  —  The 
connection  forbids  the  interpretation  of  strange  (fem.  plu.  adj.  in 
the  Heb.)  d&^=  strange  women.  —  On  queer  {^=  distorted,  topsy- 
turvy, false)  see  note  on  2'".  —  34.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Description  of  the  man's  unsteady,  whirling  brain.  In  both  lines 
we  may  render  :  like  one  who  sleeps,  or  :  like  one  who  lies  down  ; 
both  renderings  represent  the  disturbed  rest,  the  perturbation  of 
thought,  occasioned  by  the  motion  of  the  ship  at  sea ;  the  first 
seems  to  be  favored  by  v.^,  in  which  the  drunken  man  is  awaking 
from  sleep.  —  In  the  first  line  the  Heb.  is  lit. :  in  the  midst  of  the 
sea,  which  means  not  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  (a  place  where 
men  do  not  usually  lie  down),  or  on  the  surface  of  the  water  (on 
a  plank,  for  example),  but  (as  in  Ez.  27"^-''  28--*  Jon.  2'^''*')  sur- 
rounded by  water,  on  the  high  seas,  at  sea.  —  The  text  of  the  sec- 
ond line  appears  to  be  corrupt.  Literally  it  reads  :  and  as  one 
sleeping  {ox,  lying)  on  the  head  .  .  /  the  word  left  untranslated  (RV. 
mast)  occurs  only  here  in  OT.,  and  its  meaning,  if  it  be  a  real 
word,  is  unknown  ;  it  is  similar  to  the  term  for  line,  rope,  but  can 
hardly  mean  mast  (which  is  a  mere  guess).  Grk. :  and  as  a  pilot 
in  a  heavy  sea  ;  Targ.  :  as  a  sailor  who  is  asleep  in  a  ship  ;  and 
so  Frank.  :  as  a  sleeping  sailor  in  a  storm.  A  sailor,  however,  is 
precisely  the  person  who  sleeps  well  in  rough  weather,  or,  in  gen- 
eral, at  sea.  It  is  simpler  to  adopt  the  expression  /;/  a  violent 
storm    (see   Jon.    i''),   which   requires   no   great   change    in   the 

«  De.  RV.  t  Grk.  Lat.  Saad, 


XXIII.  31-35  441 

Hebrew.  The  couplet  apparently  describes  the  broken,  unsound 
sleep  of  the  reveller  —  his  head  is  whirling,  his  mind  is  confused. 
There  is  no  reference  to  the  danger  of  drowning  ;  the  main  refer- 
ence is  not  to  any  danger,  but  to  giddiness.  —  35.  The  first  coup- 
let is  synonymous,  binary ;  the  second  couplet  is  two  sentences, 
and,  as  emended,  ternary.  The  words  of  the  drunken  man  as  he 
is  awaking  from  his  debauch.  He  recollects  that  he  was  beaten 
in  a  quarrel,  and  congratulates  himself  that  he  feels  no  bad  effects 
from  the  blows.  The  first  couplet  may  also  be  rendered  :  I  was 
struck  but  I  felt  no  pain,  I  was  beaten  but  I  did  not  know  it,  with 
reference  to  his  former  happy  state  of  insensibility ;  but  the  solilo- 
quy appears  to  describe  his  present  feeling.  —  Hitzig  (by  a  slight 
change  of  text)  reads  :  //  [the  wine]  has  smitten  me  .  .  .  it  has 
beaten  me;  but,  though  wine  is  represented  in  20^  as  a  mocker 
and  brawler,  its  sudden  introduction  here  unannounced  is  not 
quite  natural.  His  experience  teaches  him  nothing  —  his  only 
desire  is  to  get  back  to  his  debauch.  When  shall  I  awake  ?  that 
is,  I  hope  I  shall  soon  recover  full  consciousness  and  strength  ; 
not  if  I  awake,  which  the  Heb.  does  not  permit.  —  The  expres- 
sion fro7n  my  wi?ie  is  not  in  the  Heb.,  but  seems  to  be  required 
by  the  following  it,  which  otherwise,  in  the  translation  here 
adopted,  would  have  no  antecedent  (so  Bickell)  ;  it  also  gives 
rhythmical  symmetry  to  the  couplet.  If  Hitzig's  rendering  be 
adopted,  the  insertion  will  not  be  grammatically  necessary.  —  This 
paragraph,  v.^^  gives  the  fullest  and  liveliest  description  of  drunk- 
enness in  OT. ;  cf.  Is.  28*"'",  BS.  19I  In  its  length  and  vividness 
it  resembles  certain  paragraphs  of  chs.  1-9  (see  chs.  5  and  7). 

29.  On  the  form  of  Djia  see  critical  note  on  6^^. — 1&  :D:n;  (H,  here  and 
Job  2^  9"  22^,  5tot  Kevrj^,  but  usually  in  Pr.  Swpedc;  Lag.  calls  attention  to  the 
difference  of  usage  in  the  two  books. — The  stem  ^Dr\  —  dark;  cf.  Ass.  akal 
(in  De.  Ass.  Handwbch.),  Schult.,  Ges.  Thes.  BDB.;  the  reference  appears  to 
be  to  the  dull  red  effect  produced  by  excessive  drinking  of  wine,  perhaps, 
however,  simply  to  the  dulness  of  stupor. — 31.  K  D;;  read  Q  D  . — ?!?  V'^ 
here  hardly  refers  to  the  round  bubbles,  like  pearls,  on  the  surface  of  the  wine 
(Ges.  Fleisch.),  for  which,  as  De.  remarks,  the  plur.  would  naturally  be  used 
(for  a  possible  Ass.  use  in  this  sense  see  De.  Ass.  IVbch.).  Since  the  eye  is 
the  determining  feature  of  expression,  the  word  is  used  in  Heb.  for  the  appear- 
ance of  a  thing,  and  so  here,  perhaps,  from  the  connection,  sparkle,  gUain 
(or  perhaps  from  the  sparkle  of  the  eye).  — In  J^  z-'.^'l.^  i^^^^  the  Hith. 


442  PROVERBS 

is  somewhat  strange  (Cant.  7^'^  has  Qal).  —  32.  |§  in-ins  is  defined  by  the 
pred.  jj''  vn:^.  —  For  the  stem  \i^-\Si  cf.  Ass.  parussu  siaff'(De.)  Aram,  ttho  ox- 
goad,  which  appear  to  involve  "piercing,"  cf.  Schult.  Ges.  De.  —  34.  |§  33B'>i 
San  c'ni3;  @  KoX  wawep  Kv^epvT^rrjs  iv  TroXXy  kXiiBuvi,  whence  Frank.:  '73'n>i 
(or  n-iy;:'^)  tfjjna  apr.  A  preferable  reading  is  :  Vtj  n;'D3  2yyj^.  —  35.  <&:  when 
will  it  be  morning,  that  I  may  go  and  seek  those  with  zvhom  I  may  associate, 
the  suff.  having  perhaps  been  understood  (Schult.)  to  refer  to  the  symposium; 
but  such  a  reference  would  be  too  remote. 


XXIV.  1,  2.  Bad  men  are  nat  proper  objects  of  envy. 

1.  Do  not  envy  bad  men, 
Desire  not  to  be  with  them, 

2.  For  they  meditate  harm, 
And  talk  of  mischief. 

1.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Envy=^'\)t  stirred  up  by,  seek  to 
emulate,"  attracted  by  their  apparent  success.  Bad  men  is  lit. 
?fien  of  badness,  with  special  reference  not  to  disposition,  but  to 
deeds. — 2.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit.:  their  tnind  {Wx..  heart) 
?neditafes  and  their  Zips  speak.  They  plot  evil,  and  will  come  to 
grief;  cf.  i^^^^  3-^^^  24^"  i// 37^'.  We  have  here  again  a  resem- 
blance to  chs.  1-9.  Harm  is  "spoliation,  robbery"  (21'  Job 
^21.22  ^j^^_  ^^  Hab.  i^)  ;  the  term  mischief  (properly  "harmful 
deeds")  occurs  in  Job  4*  \\i  7"(^^'  Isa.  59'*  etc. 

3,  4.  Domestic  utility  of  wisdom. 

3.  By  wisdom  a  house  is  built. 

By  intelligence  it  is  established, 

4.  By  knowledge  its  chambers  are  filled 
With  all  precious  and  goodly  wealth. 

The  quatrain  forms  one  sentence  ;  the  first  couplet  is  synonymous, 
binary  (or,  ternary-binary),  the  second  is  a  single  clause,  ternary. 
The  three  nouns  wisdojn,  intelligence  (see  i^),  knowledge  are  syn- 
onyms, all  expressing  practical  sagacity,  without  reference  to 
moral  and  religious  qualities.  The  house  is  here  not  the  family, 
but  the  building  ;  its  erection  and  furnishing  are,  however,  put  as 
the  sign  of  domestic  permanence  and  prosperity.  On  chambers 
see  7-'  18^  20-",  on  precious,  \^'^,  on  goodly  (or,  pleasant),  22"*  23* 
\\i  16^  Cant.  i^®.  Cf  14^ — This  quatrain  probably  does  not  give 
the  antithesis  to  the  preceding. 


XXIV.  1-7  443 

5,  6.   Military  value  of  wisdom. 

5.  A  wise  man  is  <  better  than  a  warrior,' 

And  he  who  has  knowledge  >  than  he  who  >  has  strength, 

6.  For  war  is  conducted  by  wise  guidance, 
And  victory  lies  in  counsellors. 

5.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Heb.  :  a  wise  man  is  in  sire?igth,  and 
a  man  of  knotvledge  strengthens  might.  The  second  couplet,  how- 
ever, indicates  that  a  contrast  is  intended  between  intellectual 
insight  and  bodily  strength. —  Warrior,  lit.  mighty  man. — Has 
strength,  lit.  strengthens  might.  —  6.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit. 
thou  conductest  (or,  makest)  war;  cf.  20^*.  —  Lit.  safety  is  in  the 
multitude  of  counsellors,  that  is,  in  well-considered  advice.  On 
7vise  guidance  or  planning  ( =  wise  counselling,  steering)  see  i^ 
11"  12^  20^**  Job  37^^;  as  the  guidance  is  civil,  political,  and  mili- 
tary, the  terms  "statesmanship"  and  "generalship"  are  too  nar- 
row. —  An  exacter  parallelism  is  gained  by  writing  counsel  instead 
of  counsellors.  For  victory  see  21^^  Ju.  15^*  i  Sam.  11®  2  K.  5^  al. 
Cf.  Eccl.  f^  g'^^^-  '\ 

7.  Text  and  meaning  doubtful.  Heb. :  Corals  to  the  fool  is 
wisdom,  in  the  gate  he  opens  not  his  mouth.  This  reading  of  first 
cl.*  gives  no  satisfactory  sense.  Corals  (or,  pearls)  is  taken  as 
=  "unattainable  treasure,"  of  which  the  fool  can  make  no  use; 
but  the  term  is  elsewhere  (Ez.  27^^  Job  28^*)  used  in  the  sense  of 
a  thing  esteemed  as  valuable,  and  the  addition  "  unattainable  "  is 
farfetched.  Moreover,  elsewhere  in  Pr.  (17"^  \%^  al.)  the  fool  is 
only  too  ready  to  open  his  mouth,  and  the  one  moment  in  his  life 
when  he  may  be  called  wise  is  when  he  closes  his  lips.  On  gate 
see  note  on  i-\  —  The  first  clause  may  also  (by  a  slight  change) 
be  rendered  :  wisdom  is  high  to  a  fool,  which  is  held  f  to  mean 
too  high,  =  "unattainable  "  (identical  in  sense,  therefore,  with  the 
preceding  reading)  ;  this  interpretation  of  the  Heb.  is  doubtful, 
and,  if  it  be  accepted,  the  difficulty  of  second  cl.  remains.  —  Bick- 
ell :  If  thou  art  silent  in  the  presence  of  a  fool,  thou  art  wise.  If 
thou  hold  thy  peace,  it  is  to  thy  credit ;  For  a  wise  man  refrains 
from  strife.  In  the  gate  he  opens  not  his  mouth.     This  reconstruc- 

*  Adopted  by  Rashi,  De.  Reuss,  Now.  Str. 
t  By  Saad.  Luth.  Mich.  Ew.  RV.  al. 


444  PROVERBS 

tion  is  ingenious,  but  in  31^  it  is  an  honor  to  the  man  that  he  is 
known  in  the  gate,  the  place  of  pubhc  dehberation.  We  expect  a 
quatrain,  in  which  the  loquacity  of  the  fool  is  contrasted  with  the 
reticence  of  the  wise  man ;  an  exact  restoration  of  the  text  is 
hardly  possible. 

8,  9.  Public  opinion  condemns  the  mischievous  man. 

8.  He  who  is  intent  on  mischief, 
Men  call  him  an  intriguer. 

9.  Sin  is  folly's  intrigue, 

And  a  scoffer  is  offensive  to  men. 

8.  Single  sentence,  binary-ternary.  Lit. :  he  who  devises  to  do 
evil,  that  is,  harm  to  others.  Intriguer  {^schemer,  plotter,  trickster') 
is  lit.  master  of  {evil)  plans.  The  term  was  perhaps  a  popular 
epithet  of  scheming,  mischief- making  men.  On  plans  see  notes 
on  I*  12^  The  couplet  gives  a  definition  of  a  current  term;  cf. 
21^.  —  9.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  translation  given  above 
imitates  the  paronomasia  of  the  Heb.  baal  mezimmot  {intriguer') 
and  zifnmat  {intrigue).  The  latter  word  means  "scheme,  plan," 
good  or  bad  ;  see  notes  on  10-'^  21-'^.  The  first  cl.  is  lit. :  the  plan 
of  folly  is  sin,  in  which  plan  may  be  taken  as  subject,  and  folly 
will  then  be  defined  as  sin  (so  Lat.  RV.  al.);  but,  from  the  par- 
allelism (second  cl.  is  lit. :  an  abomination  to  man  is  the  scoffe?-), 
it  is  better  to  regard  siti  as  subject,*  it  being  thus  defined  as  the 
scheme  of  folly,  and  therefore  despicable,  just  as  a  scoffer  is  des- 
picable to  men.  On  scoffer  (here  equivalent  to  "  mischiefmaker  ") 
see  notes  on  i--  19^. —  Offensive  =  "that  which  produces  loath- 
ing "  ;  see  note  on  3'^^. 

10.  Text  in  bad  condition.  Heb. :  If  thou  art  inert  {or,  slack) 
in  the  day  of  adversity,  narrow  is  thy  strength  ;  or  :  If  thou  art 
inert,  in  the  day  of  adversity  thy  strength  will  be  narro7v.  The 
general  idea  is  intelligible  (an  exhortation  to  work  while  there  is 
opportunity),  but  the  wording  and  form  are  doubtful.  Strength 
may  be  understood  in  the  sense  of  substance,  wealth  (as  in  5^°  Job 
6^^)  :  indolence  brings  poverty.  But  narrow  (as  Hitz.  points  out) 
is  not  a  proper  epithet  of  strength,  whether  the  term  =  power  ox 

*  So  De.  Reuss,  Wild,  al. 


XXIV.  7-12  445 

=  wealth;  cf.,  for  the  use  of  this  adj.,  23'^  Nu.  22^"  Is.  49-°  (in 
Isa.  59^^  Job  41'  the  text  is  probably  to  be  changed).  We  might 
suppose  a  paronomasia:  in  the  day  of  straits  (Heb.  saraJi)  strait 
(Heb.  sai-^  is  thy  strength,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  word 
would  be  thus  used  out  of  its  proper  sense.  —  Bickell :  Trust  not 
in  thy  good  fortune,  And  let  7iot  thy  hands  be  slack;  If  thou  be 
slack  in  the  day  of  prosperity,  In  the  day  of  straits  thy  strength  will 
be  strait. 

11,  12.   Duty  of  rescuing^  those  who  are  going  to  death.  — 

It  may  be  a  question  whether  we  should  take  these  verses  sepa- 
rately, or  regard  them  as  giving  a  couplet  followed  by  a  prose 
comment.     The  couplet  reads  : 

11.  Deliver  those  who  are  taken  to  death, 
Save  those  who  are  tottering  to  slaughter. 

Synonymous,  ternary.  The  expressions  taken  and  tottering  appear 
to  describe  the  gait  of  persons  who  are  condemned,  by  the  polit- 
ical or  judicial  authorities,  to  death.  The  reference  may  be  to 
the  ransom  of  prisoners  of  war,  or  to  the  rescue,  by  legal  means, 
of  innocent  men  who  have  been  condemned  by  the  tribunals. 
Perhaps  some  time  of  persecution  of  Jews  is  referred  to  (see  WS. 
210-20  J  ]y[^(,_  j3o-37  jQg_  jijjf^  12.  4.  I  ;  12.  5.  4)  ;  or,  the  injunction 
may  be  a  general  one,  suggested  by  the  customs  of  corrupt  and 
tyrannical  governments.  The  vigorous  character  of  the  expres- 
sions {death,  slaughter)  makes  it  improbable  that  the  reference  is 
merely  to  the  ordinary  oppression  of  the  poor  by  the  rich,  who 
deprive  them  of  wealth,  and  thus  of  livelihood  (=  life).  It  is 
still  more  improbable  that  the  couplet  should  refer  to  the  holding 
back  of  those  who,  by  vice  or  imprudence,  are  hastening  to  death. 
The  verb  rendered  save  is  lit.  hold  back  ;  elsewhere  (as  in  i  Sam. 
25^^  ^  19^^'''*')  it  implies  restraint  of  the  man's  voluntary  effort, 
but  the  parallelism  {deliver)  here  requires  the  sense  save,  as  in 
Job  11''  ^  7S^«. 

V.'^  of  the  Heb.,  of  which  the  English  translation  may  be  writ- 
ten stichometrically,  reads  (with  one  slight  change)  : 

12.  If  thou  say:  "<  I  >  did  not  know  this," 

He  who  weighs  hearts,  does  he  not  perceive? 


446  PROVERBS 

He  who  observes  thy  soul,  does  he  not  know? 

And  will  he  not  requite  every  man  according  to  his  deed? 

In  first  line  the  Heb.  has  :  7i'e  did  not  know  this ;  it  is  better,  with 
the  Grk.,  to  write  the  sing.,  in  accordance  with  the  thou  and  thy 
soul. — The  this,  in  this  reading,  may  refer  to  the  situation 
described  in  the  preceding  couplet ;  if  a  man  plead  ignorance  of 
the  situation,  the  answer  is  that  he  ought  to  have  known.  Or,  the 
this  may  possibly  (though  not  probably)  refer  to  the  obligation  to 
help  the  suffering ;  the  man  would  then  say  :  "  I  did  not  know 
my  duty,"  but  this  would  be  an  extreme  case  of  ignorance.  Cf. 
To  bit  i^^-''.  It  is  an  objection  to  both  these  interpretations  that 
the  this  has  no  expressed  antecedent,  since  v."  does  not  state  a 
fact,  but  only  enjoins  action  in  a  supposed  case.  The  Lat.  ren- 
dering :  //  is  not  in  my  power,  is,  therefore,  perhaps  preferable. 
The  man  pleads  inability  —  but  this  plea  will  be  scrutinized  by 
God.  If  this  reading  be  adopted,  the  //  may  be  regarded  as  refer- 
ring to  the  duty  enjoined  in  v."  ;  or  v.^'  may  perhaps  be  taken  as 
an  independent  exhortation.  Bickell  omits  first  and  second  lines, 
and  thus  makes  a  quatrain  of  v.^^-^^,  in  which  there  is  no  excuse 
and  answer,  but  simply  the  statement  (the  interrogative  particle 
being  omitted)  that  God  observes  and  rewards  deeds  of  kindness. 
The  first  and  second  lines  may  have  been  inserted  by  a  scribe 
who  supposed  that  the  third  and  fourth  lines  contained  a  rebuke 
of  negligence.  Or,  the  whole  verse  may  be  regarded  as  the  anno- 
tation of  a  scribe  or  editor  who  wished  to  enforce  the  exhortation 
of  v.".  —  For  the  expression  iveighs  hearts  cf.  i6-  21I  Heart  a.x\di 
soul  here  =  "  inward  being"  (or,  "thought").  On  the  fourth 
line  cf.   12"  24^^  Jer.  25^*  50'-^  Job  34". 

XXIV.  2.  1^  T^S  or  plene  iv:*;  (§  ^pevdrj,  =  NiU',  with  N  for  -■,  a  confusion 
which  appears  to  suppose  the  old  alphabet  (Lag.);  cf.  10-*  ig^^  20*  24^-^  28'^. 
—  5-  1^  i>'3  SDH  -1:31;  13  (followed  by  BiH)  Kpeia-aoDv  (=:  iji)  ao4>bs  iax^pov. 
Read:  rj7D  ab  asn  lai,  or  rvn  osn  lai.  Similarly,  in  ^  for  '^  nb  yaxr,  read 
riD  VDNC  (cf.  Job  9*).  —  7.  Bi.'s  reconstruction  is  as  follou'S:  nc^n  '?in|^  pdt 
ns  nriQ^  nS  nr^i'?  3ip  2p^  03n  "^  ITP^'^'^^  '^''^IP'!!-  It  is  hardly  probable  that 
so  much  of  the  Heb.  text  would  have  fallen  out.  — 10.  Bickell:  3^3  n"03n  '^x 
n'n3  -\5S  ms  01^2  noinn  nyj  ai''3   T^mn  "^x  Tn-i  i^-n.  — 11.   P"or  3n  as  hortative 

'-:  T  TT  T    •    -   :    •  T      V     :    ■  -         '     VT 

particle  cf.  xf/  81^  139^'.  It  was  treated  by  (5S1L  as  if  =  "^x,  is  lacking  in  VL, 
and  may  be  omitted  without  detriment  to  the  sense,  and  with  advantage  to 
the  rhythm.  — 12.   ?§  ^i]!y;    <3  ovk  oUa,  =  ''nyi''  k'7;    IL  7'ires  non  suppehmt. 


XXIV.  12-15  447 

=  uSr  n"^,  or  belter  •■t'  SnS  ]\s',  a  reading  which  may  be  adopted.  —  pj  ]y ; 
(5  yivuaKe,  —  pan  (Jag.). 

13,  14.    Comparison  of  wisdom  to  honey.  —  The  Heb.  has 
first  an  incomplete  quatrain : 

13.  My  son,  eat  honey,  for  it  is  good, 
And  honeycomb  is  sweet  to  thy  taste. 

14.  So  know  wisdom  (to  be)  to  thy  soul. 
If  thou  find  it. 

To  this  is  appended  the  remark  :  and  there  is  an  end,  and  thy 
hope  will  not  be  cut  off.  This  remark  is  hardly  here  appropriate  ; 
elsewhere  in  Pr.  there  is  reference  to  the  end  only  when  there  is 
direct  question  of  retribution  ;  see  s"*"  14^2-'^  16-^  19-"  20''^  23'*-^^ 
24-°  25**  29^^  The  sentence  seems  to  be  here  improperly  inserted 
from  23^^  where  it  is  in  place.: — Note  the  difference  of  statement 
in  v.^''  and  25^";  for  other  references  to  honey  and  honeycotnb  see 
5'  i6-\  The  address  my  son  should  perhaps  be  omitted,  and  for 
eat  we  might  write  thou  eatest.  Taste  is  lit.  palate.  —  In  v."  we 
expect  the  statement,  in  couplet  form,  that  wisdom  is  sweet  to  the 
soul.  The  expression  //  thou  find  it  is  suspicious  ;  a  reference  to 
finding  is  natural  in  such  passages  as  3''''  8^"  25^",  but  not  here 
where  the  sweetness  of  -wisdom  is  the  point.  Comparing  2'°  16-^ 
we  may  surmise  that  the  original  form  of  the  couplet  was  in  sub- 

So  knowledge  will  be  pleasant  to  thee. 
And  wisdom  sweet  to  thy  soul. 

The  general  sense  of  the  quatrain  is  clear,  though  the  form  is 
doubtful. 

15,  16.   Caution  against  assailing  good  men. 

15.  Lie  not  in  wait  [J  for  the  home  of  the  just, 
And  assault  not  his  dwelling-place. 

16.  For  seven  times  the  just  man  falls  and  rises. 
But  the  wicked  are  overthrown  by  calamity. 

15.  Synonymous,  binary,  or  ternary-binary.  After  lie  not  in  wait 
the  Heb.  inserts  O  wicked  man;  this  is  stylistically  out  of  place 
(since  throughout  this  Section  it  is  the  pupil  who  is  addressed 
and  warned  against  the  wicked),  mars  the  rhythm,  and  is  proba- 


448  PROVERBS 

bly  a  gloss. — Home  is  abode  (3"''  21*)  ;  just=  righteous  ;  assault 
=^  do  viole?ice  to,  violently  assail,  injure,  devastate  (see  11^  19^® 
21^  Am.  3'"  Jer.  5^  Job  5'')  ;  dwelling-place,  properly  couching- 
place,  the  lair  of  animals  (Is.  35''  65^''),  used  of  Israel  when  the 
nation  is  called  a  flock  of  sheep  (Jer.  50''),  the  verb  also,  ordina- 
rily used  of  animals  (Is.  11"  i//  104"),  sometimes  referring  poet- 
ically to  men  (Gen.  49^  \\i  23-).  The  injunction  is  against  secret 
and  open  attempts  on  the  homes  of  righteous  men,  and  contem- 
plates a  period  of  violence,  probably  in  a  great  city.  — 16.  Anti- 
thetic, ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  Seveti,  a  round  number 
(cf.  Job  5'"  Mt.  1 8-^-^^)  — the  righteous,  it  is  said,  shall  never  be 
permanently  cast  down  (cf.  Mic.  7*)  ;  the  wicked,  on  the  con- 
trary, has  no  power  to  rise  above  misfortune  —  once  down,  he 
does  not  rise.  The  couplet  probably  refers  not  to  the  natural 
inspiriting  power  of  integrity  and  the  depressing  effect  of  moral 
evil,  but  to  divine  retribution.  —  Are  overthrozvn,  lit.  are  tnade  to 
stumble,  or  do  stumble.  Instead  of  by  calamity  we  may  render  in 
calamity,  that  is,  "in  time  of  calamity." 

17, 18.  Against  taking  pleasure  in  the  misfortunes  of  enemies. 

17.  At  the  fall  of  thine  enemy  rejoice  not, 
At  his  overthrow  do  not  exult, 

18.  Lest  Yahweh  see  and  be  displeased, 
And  turn  his  anger  from  him. 

17.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Lit.  at  the  falling  of  and  at  his  being 
overthrown.  In  second  cl.  lit.  let  not  thy  heart  exult.  The  verbs 
rejoice  and  exult  commonly  signify  the  audible  expression  of  joy ; 
the  exultation  may  be  generous  (as  in  5^*  23-^),  or  malicious  (as 
here  and  in  ^  35^^).  The  injunction  is  negative  (cf.  Job  31^), 
against  exultation  over  enemies  ;  the  positive  side,  sympathy  with 
enemies  (see  \^  35^'^^^  Mt.  5*^),  is  not  expressed,  but  is  perhaps 
involved.  —  18.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  The  turn  his  anger  from 
him  (that  is,  from  the  enemy)  is  not  to  be  understood  as  affirming 
that  God  will  cease  punishing  a  wicked  man  because  another  man 
is  pleased  at  the  punishment ;  the  full  form  of  the  expression  is 
"  turn  from  him  to  thee,"  and  the  stress  is  to  be  laid  on  the  "to 
thee."  "Thou,"  says  the  sage,  "wilt  then  become  the  greater 
sinner,  and  Yahweh  will  be  more  concerned  to  punish  thee  than 


XXIV.  15-22  449 

to  punish  him."  —  The  motive  here  assigned  —  fear  of  Yahweh's 
displeasure  —  belongs  to  the  ethical  system  of  Proverbs.  But 
this  motive  does  not  impair  the  dignity  of  the  moral  standard  pre- 
sented. Yahweh's  displeasure  is  the  expression  of  the  moral  ideal : 
it  is  one's  duty,  says  the  proverb,  not  to  rejoice  at  the  misfortunes 
of  enemies.  This  duty  is  enforced  by  a  reference  to  compensa- 
tion, but  it  remains  a  duty. 

19,  20.   It  is  unreasonable  to  envy  the  wicked,  seeing  their 
end  is  unhappy.  ♦ 

19.  Fret  not  thyself  because  of  evil-doers, 
Envy  not  the  wicked; 

20.  For  there  will  be  no  (happy)  end  for  the  bad  man. 
The  lamp  of  the  wicked  will  be  put  out. 

Both  couplets  are  synonymous ;  the  first  is  binary,  the  second  ter- 
nary, or  ternary-binary.  Cf.  33^32  23'''®  24^  ij/  37''^'^"'  73.  J^re/ 
=  "  be  not  angrily  excited,"  that  is,  at  the  apparent  prosperity  of 
the  wicked.  On  efui  see  note  on  23^^.  Lit. :  //lere  will  be  no  end, 
no  outcome  of  life  —  that  is,  no  good  outcome.  This  pregnant 
use  of  the  term  is  found  only  here  and  in  23^^  (see  note  on  24")  ; 
everywhere  else  it  is  defined.  Thus  it  might  be  rendered  future 
(Saad.  a/.),  or  reward  (RV.)  in  this  life.  Grk.  posterity  (as  in 
i/'  109^')  is,  in  this  connection,  less  probable.  —  On  the  figure  in 
V.-"''  see  notes  on  13^  20-".  —  The  problem  of  the  quatrain  is  that 
of  the  Book  of  Job  ;  the  practical  moralists  retained  the  old  view, 
holding  that  it  furnished  the  strongest  incentive  to  well-doing  that 
could  be  urged. 

21,22.   Duty  of  obedience  to  constituted  authorities.  —  Our 
Hebrew  text  reads  : 

21.  Fear  Yahweh,  my  son,  and  the  king, 

And  with  those  who  change  have  naught  to  do; 

22.  For  suddenly  arises  their  ruin, 

And  the  destruction  of  them  both  who  can  know? 

The  address  my  son,  because  of  its  strange  position  and  because  it 
mars  the  rhythm  of  the  Heb.,  is  better  omitted  as  scribal  insertion. 
Have  Jiaught  to  do  is  lit.  )nix  (or,  join)  not  thyself.  —  Who  can 
know  ?  =  "  comes   suddenly,   unexpectedly."  —  The    expression 

2G 


450  PROVERBS 

who  change  (intransitive)  has  been  variously  rendered  :  Schult. 
RV.  :  them  that  are  given  to  change,  which  can  mean  only  nova- 
rum  reriim  avidi,  political  agitators  ;  a  slight  modification  of  the 
word  gives  the  sense  changers  (transitive),  wrongly  interpreted 
(by  Hitzig  aL)  as  =  revolutionists,  insurrectio7iists ;  Mich,  al.: 
those  who  are  of  a  different  mind,  that  is,  those  who  do  not  fear 
God  and  the  king  —  a  rendering  lexicographically  inexact ;  Ewald  : 
the  quarrelsome;  Reuss :  the  discontented;  Syr.  Targ.  :  fools; 
Lat.  :  detractors.  —  Grk.  :  do  not  disobey  either  of  them  {=  to 
them  both  be  not  disobedient).  If  in  the  expressions  their  ruin  and 
the  destruction  of  them  both  the  pronouns  be  understood  as  refer- 
ring to  God  and  the  king  (with  the  sense  :  "  the  ruin  and  destruc- 
tion inflicted  by  them"),  the  Greek  reading  is  satisfactory.  If 
the  expressions  in  question  mean  "  the  ruin  etc.  which  befall  them," 
the  reference  must  be  to  persons  mentioned  in  the  second  line  of 
v.^\  and  the  reading  them  both  is  impossible  (since  the  expression 
cannot  designate  the  two  classes,  those  who  fear  Yahweh,  and 
those  who  fear  the  king).  If  the  pronouns  be  taken  as  objective, 
we  may  read  : 

Fear  thou  God  and  the  king, 

With  the  wicked  (or,  with  fools)  have  naught  to  do; 

For  on  them  falls  sudden  ruin, 

And  destruction  unforeseen. 

If  the  pronouns  be  regarded  as  subjective,  a  natural  reading  will  be  : 

Fear  thou  God  and  the  king, 

Anger  not  either  of  them; 

For  the  ruin  they  inflict  is  sudden, 

And  the  destruction  they  send  unforeseen. 

The  general  sense  is  the  same  in  the  two  forms  :  obedience  to 
God  as  supreme  religious  authority,  and  to  the  king  as  supreme 
civil  authority,  is  enjoined  (so  i  Pet.  i'^)  ;  opposition  to  them  by 
wicked  conduct  will  be  punished  with  destruction.  —  God,  as  the 
more  familiar  word,  may  be  substituted  for  Yahweh.  —  The  trans- 
lation of  v.-^** :  the  destruction  of  their  years  who  can  know  ?  *  is 
unnatural  —  in  OT.  years  (as  =  life)  are  said  to  be  increased  or 
lengthened  (9"),  or  diminished  (10-'^),  but  never  to  be  destroyed. 

*  Syr.  Targ.  De.  RV.  marg. 


XXIV,   22-23  451 

—  The  Grk.  here  mserts  30^'"  of  the  Heb.,  giving  an  improbable 
order. 

13,  14.  The  Vrss.  substantially  reproduce  |^.  The  pointing  of  the  Energic 
Impv.  nv'i  (Cod.  Hillel),  instead  of  n;-,  is  due  (as  in  the  Art.  before  n)  to 
the  following  n,  to  which  the  vowel  is  made  to  conform;  see  Strack,  Proleg., 
p.  19,  and  notes  of  De.  B-D,  Ginsburg.  — 15.  Omit  ^  •;z'^,  with  Bi.,  as  the 
gloss  of  a  scribe  who  incorrectly  assumed  that  the  warning  must  be  addressed 
to  wicked  men;  the  word  is  represented  in  all  Vrss.,  but  S  has  dcri^eiav,  and 
!L  impietatem.  —  \%.  p?  •}-it,  =  seven  times,  as  in  ^  lig'^-i.  — 17.  K  plur. 
"I'^v^;  Q,  better,  sing.  —  |^  i'? .:•-:!,  as  if  abridged  form  of  Nif.;  better  Qal 
-iV^r^D.  — 18.  p2  yTi  is  better  understood  as  3  s.  m.  Perf.  with  1  consecutive; 
the  adj.  would  properly  be  followed  by  .sm;  (g  koI  ovk  dp^aei.  — 19.  P^  '^^'^r'' 
<g  x«'/"f.  =  '"2:  (Lag.).  —  21.  Omit  %}  ':p.  —  |^  3^rr;   &  (and  E)  vS^dj-  /oo/s, 

—  "  those  whose  intellect  is  changed,  witless  "  (cf.  Aram.  n:.  )  ;  %  delractori- 
bus,  —  "  disparagers,"  perh.  =  "  those  who  change  their  attitude,  opponents," 
perh.  =  "  haters  " ;  Venet.  roh  ^icroOcrt,  =  3\sir.  —  (5,  in  ^  :  Kal  tx7)eeT^p(^ 
avrOiv  dweieria-ris,  =  ■^2-;p-^  'rs  on^yd  "?■;  (Jag.).  —  See  De'  Rossi  on  v.^^. — 
22.  5^  niMT  gives  no  satisfactory  sense.  Ew. :  cn^ij-;  Bi. :  o-:t'  their 
idiocy,  taking  r\\v  in  the  Aram,  sense,  an^ir  is  perhaps  corrupted  scribal 
repetition  of  the  D''JU'  of  v.-^;  in  that  case  we  should  add  suff.  to  |§  i-;-,  and 
make  it  parallel  to  n-iN.  —  On  the  added  couplets  in  (§  see  Ew.,  Jahrb.  d.  Bibl. 
Wiss.,  xi.  pp.  18  ff.,  Bi.  Baumg. 


23-24 


Appendix  to  the  Preceding  Collection.     24' 

This  appendix  was  added  by  an  editor,  probably  by  him  who 
collected  22^^-24^^,  possibly  by  the  general  editor  of  the  Book. 
It  is  introduced  by  the  title  : 

23  a.  These  also  are  by  the  sages, 

in  which  the  also  appears  to  allude  to  the  similar  title  in  22^^" 
(according  to  the  emended  text).  The  plur.  sages  points  to  the 
existence  of  a  special  class  of  wise  men,  who  were  oral  teachers  or 
writers.  The  utterances  of  these  men  formed  a  distinct  body  of 
thought,  part  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and 
other  parts  are  given  in  Ben-Sira  and  Ecclesiastes.  While  it  is 
not  probable  that  all  that  they  said  has  been  edited,  it  is  likely 
that  we  have  in  the  various  collections  the  gist  of  their  thought. — 
The  present  group  is  part  prose,  part  in  defective  rhythm  ;  its 
contents  nearly  resemble  in  tone  those  of  the  preceding  part  of 
the  Section. 


452  PROVERBS 

23t'-26.  Judicial  partiality.  Honest  words.  —  The  mutual 
relations  of  the  Hnes  are  doubtful.  V.-^*'  may  be  retained  as 
prose,  or  emended  into  rhythmical  form  ;  v.-^  may  be  connected 
with  v.^"*  or  with  v.'".     The  verses  read  in  the  Heb. : 

23  b.    Partiality  in  judicial  decisions  is  not  good. 

24.  Who  says  to  him  who  is  in  the  wrong:  "Thou  art  in  the  right"; 
Him  men  will  execrate,  and  people  curse. 

25.  But  (or,  and)  they  who  reprove  fare  well, 
On  them  rests  the  blessing  of  prosperity. 

26.  He  does  a  friendly  act 
Who  gives  an  honest  answer. 

Here  v.  "^^  is  a  prose  sentence,  a  legal  maxim ;  its  thought  is  con- 
tinued in  V.-''  by  the  statement  that  the  partisan  judge  is  univer- 
sally execrated.  Bickell,  changing  the  text  of  v."^**  and  dividing 
second  line  of  v.^*  into  two  parts,  makes  a  quatrain  :  he  zvho  is 
partial  in  judgment,  who  says  etc.  The  emendation  is  attractive, 
and  should  perhaps  be  adopted  ;  if  he  who  is  pa?-tial  had  been 
corrupted  into  to  be  partial,  a  scribe  would  naturally  add  the 
words  7iot  good ;  it  is,  however,  doubtful  whether  symmetry  of 
poetical  form  can  here  be  insisted  on.  — As  the  text  stands,  v.^^ 
appears  to  describe,  as  contrast  to  v.-*,  the  happiness  of  the 
upright  judge,  the  reprove  (or,  rebuke')  being  taken  as  =  "  reprove 
the  wrong,  judge  justly "  (RV.,  interpreting,  inserts  him,  as 
explicit  reference  to  the  wicked  man  of  v.^*) ;  the  blessing  (the  of 
prosperity  being  omitted,  as  in  the  Grk.)  will  then  stand  over 
against  the  curse  of  v.^*.  But  the  verb  7-eprove  is  not  elsewhere  in 
Pr.  used  in  the  sense  "judge  justly"  ;  v.^^  may  be  understood  to 
refer  to  those  who  frankly  rebuke  wrong  in  general,  and  will  then 
stand  in  close  connection  with  v.-^.  Bickell  transposes  v.-^-  ■^,  read- 
ing :  \_he  who  rebukes^  is  a  true  friend  etc.,  and  they  who  reprove 
etc.,  making  the  quatrain  relate  to  honest  rebuke,  and  gaining  a 
natural  position  for  the  and  of  v.-^  as  a  connective  of  the  two 
couplets.  The  only  important  difference  between  the  two  inter- 
pretations of  the  paragraph  lies  in  the  sense  given  to  reprove.  — 
23''.  Lit.  to  have  respect  of  persons,  to  look  (with  partial  eye)  on 
a  person;  see  Dt.  16^"  (and  i''),  from  which  this  line  is  probably 
taken ;  it  occurs  again,  in  slightly  modified  form,  in  28-^  — 
24.    On  the  technical  forensic  expressions  of  first  line   (usually 


XXIV.  23-27  453 

rendered  wicked  and  righteous)  see  notes  on  2-"  --.  The  line  may 
be  translated  :  he  who  says  to  the  guilty :  Thou  art  innocent.  — 
Execrate  (11^^  Job  f)  and  curse  (22'^  25^'^)  are  synonyms  (Nu. 
23^  where  RV.,  for  the  second,  has  defy).  Men  is  lit.  "  nations," 
and  people  is  "peoples";  for  the  meaning  see  11'®  14^^  29^" 
i/^  94** ;  the  plu.  form,  if  it  be  genuine,  must  be  understood  to  sig- 
nify "all  bodies  of  the  people,"— 25.  Lit.  and  (or,  but)  to  (or, 
with)  those  who  reprove  it  is  tvell  (or,  pleasant)  ;  for  tlie  last 
expression  see  2^"  g"  2  Sam.  i"".  —Second  line  lit.  on  them  conies 
(or,  will  come)  blessing  of  good,  that  is,  not  "  good  (or,  rich)  bless- 
ing," but  a  blessing  which  consists  in  good  fortune  (cf.  \\i  21'''*'). 
The  tone  of  the  verse  in  the  Heb.  form  suits  the  good  man  rather 
than  the  just  judge  ;  \i  of  prosperity  be  omitted,  it  may  be  under- 
stood of  the  latter.  —  26.  Lit.  he  kisses  the  lips  who  returns  hottest 
(or,  pure,  upright)  luords :  the  first  expression  signifies  not  "  he 
wins  love,"  but  "  he  shows  love,"  he  is  a  true  friend.*  Straight- 
forward, honest  speech,  says  the  verse,  is  a  mark  of  true  friend- 
ship. 

27.   Preparation  for  marriage. 

Set  in  order  thy  work  without, 
Make  it  ready  in  the  field; 
Then  thou  mayest  (take  a  wife), 
And  build  thee  up  a  house. 

The  first  couplet  is  synonymous,  ternary ;  the  second  appears  to 
be  defective.  Without  and  in  the  field  refer  to  agricultural  life  ; 
see  note  on  3^  and  cf.  Mt.  9^^  12^— The  Heb.  has  lit.  after- 
wards then  (lit.  and)  thou  mayest  build^z.  construction  in  itself 
intelligible  and  good,  but  the  defective  rhythm  suggests  that  after 
the  adverb  a  verb  has  fallen  out.  Most  expositors,  from  Rashi  on, 
see  in  the  second  couplet  a  reference  to  the  setting  up  of  a 
domestic  establishment  {house  =  household,  family,  cf.  Ru.  4"), 
and  understand  that  some  such  expression  as  take  thee  a  wife  is 

*  This  is  the  only  place  in  OT.  where  there  is  explicit  mention  of  kissing  the 
lips;  there  seems  to  be  reference  to  it  in  Cant.  4"  (interpreted  by  Cant.  5I).  In 
the  ancient  world  one  kissed  the  hand,  breast,  knee,  or  foot  of  a  superior,  and  the 
cheek  of  a  friend.  Herodotus  (i,  134)  mentions  kissing  the  lips  as  a  custom  of  the 
Persians.     Possibly  from  them  it  came  to  the  Jews. 


454  PROVERBS 

10  be  supplied  in  the  first  line.  The  verse  enjoins  providence : 
"  first  acquire  the  means  of  supporting  a  family,  then  thou  mayest 
marry,  and  accomplish  thy  desire  to  build  thee  a  house."  The 
establishment  of  a  family  was  a  main  ambition  in  Israeliiish  and 
all  ancient  life. 

28,  29.  Against  revenge. 

28.  Be  not  a  witness  against  thy  neighbor  without  ground, 
And  mislead  not  with  thy  hps. 

29.  Say  not :  "  I  will  do  to  him  as  he  did  to  me, 
I  will  repay  the  man  for  his  deed." 

The  quatrain  has  parallelism  of  form,  but,  like  v.^^  above,  is  pro- 
saic rather  than  poetical.  The  supposed  scene  is  a  court  of 
law,  as  in  3^".  —  28.  Without  ground  =  "  when  he  has  given  you 
no  ground  for  testifying  against  him"  (see  note  on  3'^°)  ;  Grk. : 
be  not  a  false  witness.  The  expression  is  sometimes  (by  Reuss 
al.^  taken  to  mean  :  "  when  you  are  not  legally  required  to  testify, 
but  come  forward,  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  as  a  volun- 
tary witness  "  —  a  sense  possible,  but  opposed  by  ■^^.  Elsewhere 
fiUsity  of  testimony  is  expressed  by  words  meaning  deceit  (so  6^^ 
12^'  Ex.  20"^^/.),  or,  mnckedness  (19^^),  or,  malice  (if/  35"),  here 
by  the  term  groundlessness.  —  In  the  second  line  the  literal  read- 
ing is  :  and  dost  thou  mislead  (or,  befool)  etc.?  It  is  better,  with 
the  Grk.,  to  take  the  cl.  as  a  prohibition.  For  the  sense  mislead 
see  Jer.  20'  Ez.  14^;  in  Pr.  i^**  16-^  the  verb  means  entice. — 
29.  Bickell  omits  one  clause  in  first  line,  and  writes:  say  not:  as 
he  did  to  me,  so  I  will  repay  etc.  ;  but  this  is  stylistically  bad  — 
the  omission  of  the  expression  /  7vill  do  to  him  is  hardly  per- 
mitted by  Heb.  usage.  There  is  possibly  a  reference  or  allusion 
to  v.^-.  The  Lat.  makes  the  second  line  a  general  statement :  / 
will  repay  every  one  etc. ;  this  is  less  probable  than  the  reference 
to  the  particular  case. — The  quatrain  (especially  v.^)  is  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  old  law  of  retaliation,  as  given  in  Ex.  21-^-^  Dt.  19^' 
Lev.  24'^-^''.  This  regulation,  it  is  true,  was,  in  the  later  legisla- 
tion, not  a  matter  of  private  revenge,  but  a  legal  right,  controlled 
by  judges  ;  it  was,  however,  based  on  the  old  principle  of  retalia- 
tion, and  breathed  its  spirit.  It  was  gradually  modified  by  the 
advance  of  moral  and  refined  feeling,  and  would  be  substantially 


XXIV.  27-31  455 


set  aside  by  the  principle  announced  in  this  quatrain ;  the  sage 
here  expresses  the  higher  moral  idea  of  his  time.* 

30-34.  The  sluggard. 

30.  I  passed  by  the  field  of  the  sluggard, 
By  the  vineyard  of  the  thriftless, 

31.  And  lo,  it  was  all  overgrown  with  thistles, 
Its  surface  was  covered  with  nettles, 
And  its  stone  wall  was  broken  down. 

32.  I  beheld  and  reflected  thereon, 
I  saw  and  learned  a  lesson. 

33.  A  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 

A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  rest; 

34.  And  thy  poverty  will  come  as  a  <  highwayman,' 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man. 

See  notes  on  6^",  to  which  this  paragraph  is  parallel.  The  two 
passages  accord  literally  in  only  one  quatrain:  6'°'^^=  24*^**;  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  attempt  to  bring  them  into  closer  similarity 
—  the  sages  doubtless  had  many  variations  on  the  same  text.  — 
We  expect  quatrains  here,  but  Bickell's  method  of  gaining  them 
(omitting  part  of  v."^  and  inserting  6^  after  v.'^')  is  somewhat  vio- 
lent. —  30.  Synonymous,  ternary.  A  supposed  or  imaginary  case  ; 
we  may  render :  a  sluggard  and  an  unthrifty  (or,  a  negligent) 
man.  Thriftless  is  lit.  the  man  void  of  understanding,  lacking  in 
the  good  sense  which  would  make  him  provident. f  —  31.  Ter- 
nary, triplet.  The  first  and  second  lines  are  mutually  equivalent, 
the  third  line  stands  alone.  We  may  obtain  a  quatrain  by  adding 
a  line  (parallel  to  third  line),  or  a  couplet  by  omitting  second  line 
or  third  line,  or  by  combining  the  two  first  lines  into  one.  The 
triplet  is  suspicious,  but  it  is  not  clear  how  the  text  is  to  be 
treated.  —  The  precise  meaning  of  the  words  rendered  thistles 
(RV.  thorns')  and  nettles  is  not  certain  ;  the  first  occurs  only  here 
in  OT.,  the  second  elsewhere  only  in  Zeph.  2^  Job  30',  perhaps  a 
sort  of  lathyrus  or  vetch.  The  two  represent  the  growth  that 
springs  up  in  deserted  and  neglected  places.     Stones  are  abundant 

*  Similarly,  in  Mt.  538.39  it  is  assumed  that  the  spirit  of  the  old  legislation  was 
morally  defective. 

t  On  viticulture  in  ancient  Israel  see  Nowack,  Arch.,  \  42,  and  the  Bib.  Diets. ; 
on  the  modern  culture  of  the  grape  see  Robinson,  Blbl.  Researches,  ii.  81  al. 


456  PROVERBS 

in  Palestine,  and  have  always  been  used  for  building  walls  about 
fields  and  vineyards  (cf.  Is.  5-).  —  32.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Reflected  thereon,  lit.  applied  my  mind,  observed,  took  note  (RV. 
considered  well ).  —  Learned  a  lesson,  lit.  I'eceived  instruction.  — 
33,  34.  See  notes  on  6^"- ".  In  that  passage  the  description  of 
the  sluggard's  laziness  is  introduced  by  an  address  to  him  ;  here 
the  introduction  to  y.^-^-*  ig  given  by  v.^^,  so  that  the  insertion  of 
6^  (Bick.)  is  hardly  necessary.  —  In  v.^^  the  Heb.  has:  and  thy 
poverty  will  come  walking  (or,  a  walker^ ;  a  slight  change  of  the 
last  word  gives  the  sense  as  a  highwayman  (as  in  6"),  which  is 
obviously  the  right  reading  (RV.  as  a  robber). 

23.  |§  "i:^;  Bi.  reads  irn  and  omits  3t3  S3. — 25.  (5  omits  3t3.  Hif.  of 
nD"'  occurs  in  the  sense  decide,  judge  (always  with  connotation  of  just  decision) 
in  Isa.  1 1^  al.,  sometimes  absolutely;  in  Pr.,  absolutely,  only  here.  —  26.  (§  :  they 
kiss  lips  which  answer;  SiST:  .  .  .  the  lips  of  those  who  reprove  (2C  return 
right  worcts') ;  '2,:  he  who  answers  etc.  tvill  be  kissed  ivith  the  lips  ;  IL,  cor- 
rectly:  he  kisses  .  .  .  who  ansiuers.  —  27.  On  the  1  in  |§  P''j3i  nnx  as  introduc- 
ing the  apodosis  see  Ew.  §  344  <^,  Ges.^e  §  112,  5.  c.  It  seems  better,  on 
rhythmical  grounds,  to  insert  nrs  n'^  npp.  —  28.  |§  nTinn^,  interrog.  part,  and 
Piel  introduced  by  %  a  construction  (-1  preceded  by  1)  which  is  found  in 
2  S.  15-^^.  The  n  is  better  omitted,  and  the  neg.  may  then  be  continued 
from  ",  or  we  may  read  'n  Sni;  (5  /xr;5^.  The  sense  make  zvide,  for  Hif. 
(©  Tr\o.T\)vov)  seems  to  be  assured  by  Gen.  9-''.  —  On  the  reading  T^i,':^Qr\^,  from 
nnc,  see  De'  Rossi.  —  30.  For  |^  S>7  in  both  cases  (@  has  wo-Trep,  and  it  omits 
irnay.  —  31.  o^rrDP  is  written  with  either  t-  or  'a;  see  B-D,  Ginsb.  On 
the  meaning  of  the  terms  |t:'Dp  or  ^'op  (Hos.  9''  Is.  34^^)  and  Sin  see  Low, 
Aram.  Pflanzennam.  —  33,  34.    See  notes  on  b^"-  ^^  — 1§  ~\ir\7\T.;   read  l^np. 


IV.     CHAPTERS  XXV.-XXIX. 

This  Section  falls,  by  its  style,  into  two  parts.  The  first  (25-- 
27^^)  bears  greater  resemblance  to  III.  (2  2^'-24^^),  the  second 
(28.  29)  to  II.  (10^-22^")  ;  between  the  two  stands  a  discourse 
(27^-^)  after  the  manner  of  III.  The  Section  thus  appears  to 
have  been  formed  by  the  combination  of  two  collections.  It  has 
certain  couplets  in  common  with  the  other  collections.  See  the 
Introduction. 

The  Title.     25^ 

The  title  reads  :  T/iese  also  ajr  proverbs  of  Solomon  which  the 
men  of  Hezekiah,  king  of  Jiidah,  transcribed. 

The  verb  has  this  sense  only  here  in  OT. ;  elsewhere  (Gen.  12^ 
Job  9'  21^  a/.*)  it  means  remove  (in  space  or  in  time),  and  its  sig- 
nification here  {^transcribe  =  "remove  from  one  book  to  another") 
belongs  to  the  late  literary  vocabulary.!  This  superscription  thus 
belongs  in  the  same  category  with  the  titles  found  in  the  Prophet- 
ical Books  and  the  Psalter,  and  has  no  value  as  a  witness  to  the 
date  of  the  original  collection  or  to  the  origin  of  the  particular 
proverbs  ;  it  only  bears  testimony  to  the  disposition,  in  later  times, 
to  ascribe  all  wise  sayings  to  Solomon,  and  a  special  suggestion  of 
Solomonic  authorship  may  have  been  found  in  the  mention  of 
kings  with  which  the  collection  opens.  Internal  evidence  leads 
us  to  refer  this  Section  to  the  same  general  period  as  that  of  chs. 
10-24;  see  the  Introduction. — The  supposition  of  the  tide  is 
that,  in  addition  to  Solomon's  own  book  (10^-22^''),  other  collec- 
tions of  his  proverbs  were  in  existence  in  written  form,  and  that 
these  were  copied  out  (or,  in  modern  phrase,  edited)  by  Heze- 
kiah's  men.  J     This  indicates  the  opinion   that  our  Section  was 

*  Job  32I5  appears  to  be  an  interpolation ;  see  Budde,  Hioi. 
t  On  the  Talmudic  use  see  Buxt.,  Lexicon. 

X  If  the  meaning  were  that  the  proverbs  were  handed  down  orally,  and  com- 
mitted to  writing  from  the  mouths  of  men,  the  verb  would  naturally  be  wrote. 

457 


458  PROVERBS 

later  than  II.,  an  opinion  which  is  supported  by  considerations  of 
matter  and  style.  Hezekiah's  time  may  have  been  selected  by 
the  author  of  the  title  (or  by  the  tradition  which  he  represents) 
as  being  the  next  great  literary  period,  in  Judah,  after  Solomon, 
the  time  of  Isaiah  and  Micah,  or,  the  selection  may  have  been 
suggested  by  the  military  glory  of  the  period  (the  repulse  of  the 
Assyrian  army),  and  the  fauie  of  Hezekiah  as  a  pious  monarch 
and  a  vigorous  reformer  of  the  national  religious  life ;  the  men  of 
Jiezekiah  are  the  literary  men  of  his  court.  The  period  would,  in 
these  regards,  be  an  appropriate  one,  but  the  history  of  Israelitish 
literature  makes  it  improbable  that  such  a  work  should  have  been 
then  undertaken;  to  regard  Hezekiah  as  a  Jewish  Pisistratus 
(De.)  is  to  ascribe  to  the  time  a  literary  spirit  of  which  our  doc- 
uments give  no  hint.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  fall  of 
Samaria  would  have  led  the  men  of  Judah  to  collect  the  literature 
of  the  northern  kingdom,  and  our  Section  has,  in  fact,  been 
regarded  as  Ephraimitic ;  but  the  vocabulary,  style,  and  matter  of 
the  Section  do  not  warrant  such  a  supposition. 

2-7^.  On  kings. 

2.  It  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal, 

It  is  the  glory  of  kings  to  search  out. 

3.  The  heaven  for  height  and  the  earth  for  depth, 
And  the  mind  of  kings  is  unsearchable. 

4.  Take  away  the  dross  from  silver, 
And  I  it '  comes  forth  <  perfectly  pure.» 

5.  Take  away  the  wicked  from  the  king. 

And  his  throne  is  established  by  righteousness. 

6.  Claim  not  honor  in  the  presence  of  a  king, 
And  stand  not  in  the  place  of  great  men. 

7.  Better  that  it  be  said  to  thee  :  "  Come  up  hither," 
Than  that  thou  be  humbled  before  the  prince.     [] 

The  paragraph  consists  of  three  quatrains,  a  structure  similar  to 
that  of  the  third  Section.  The  space  devoted  to  kings  is  note- 
worthy ;  cf.,  in  the  first  Section,  8'\  in  the  second,  14-^-^  jgio.  12-15 
19I2  2o--8-«-»  21^  22^',  in  the  third,  22-''*  24^  in  the  fourth,  29^", 
in  the  fifth,  3o'^-^*-^^  31^  *,  and  similar  sayings  in  Eccl.  and  BS. 
The  political  condition  assumed  is  probably  not  that  of  old  Israel. 


XXV.  1-5  459 

2.  Antithetic,  quaternary,  or  ternary.  It  belongs,  says  the 
proverb,  to  the  greatness  of  God  that  his  work  (in  nature  and  in 
history)  is  mysterious,  and  his  purposes  inscrutable  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  the  function  of  rulers  is  to  investigate  (not  the  purposes  of 
God,  but)  all  the  affairs  of  the  State  —  they  should  be  open  and 
straightforward  in  government.  The  saying  is  perhaps  directed 
against  the  tortuous  diplomacy  and  other  underhand  methods  of 
the  time.  —  Lit. :  conceal  a  thing  and  search  out  a  thing,  that  is, 
anything  and  everything.  —  Cf.  Robert  Hall's  sermon  entitled  : 
"The  glory  of  God  in  concealing."  —  3.  Comparison,  quaternary 
or  quaternary-ternary.  As  heaven  and  earth  are  too  large  to  be 
comprehended,  so  the  purposes  of  kings.  The  couplet  is  comple- 
mentary to  the  preceding ;  both  are  to  be  taken  as  statements 
of  poUtical  facts,  not  at  all  as  sarcastic  or  disparaging.  The 
sage  has  a  great  respect  for  kings.  —  The  heaven  is  the  sky,  the 
indefinite  visible  upper  region,  somewhere  in  which  is  the  abode 
of  God  (Eccl.  5")  ;  the  earth  is  indefinitely  deep,  reaching  down 
to  Sheol  (2^*  5^  Jon.  2--®).  —  Delitzsch  regards  the  form  of  the 
couplet  as  that  of  the  priamel,  the  three  subjects  having  the  com- 
mon predicate  unsearchable ;  but  it  is  more  natural  to  confine 
this  latter  to  the  second  line,  the  first  line  having  the  two  predi- 
cates high  {height)  and  deep  {depth).  —  4,  5.  The  quatrain  forms 
a  comparison  (the  couplets  are  ternary).  In  the  second  hne  of 
v.^  the  Heb.  reads:  and  a  vessel  comes  forth  to  the  smith  (RV. 
finer).  The  vessel,  according  to  this  reading,  has,  as  its  parallel, 
the  throne  of  v.* ;  both  may  be  said  to  be  products  of  skill,  and 
the  vessel  (according  to  some  expositors)  may  be  poetically  con- 
ceived of  as  emerging  to  (or,  for)  the  artist  out  of  the  refining 
process  (cf.  Aaron's  brief  history  of  the  golden  calf,  Ex.  32-'*). 
But  this  is  not  a  natural  form  of  expression  —  the  vessel  (as  Wilde- 
boer  remarks)  does  not  come  to  the  silversmith  simply  by  the 
process  of  refining,  and  the  parallelism  points  to  a  comparison 
between  the  purity  of  the  silver  and  that  of  the  throne.  It  is, 
therefore,  better  to  follow  the  suggestion  of  the  Greek,  which  has  : 
it  will  be  purified  entirely  pure.  —  For  dross  see  Isa.  i"^  Ez.  22^* 
\^  119^^''.  —  By  righteousness,  that  is,  by  means  of  righteous  coun- 
sellors and  counsels  ;  the  Heb.  expression  may  be  rendered  in 
righteousness,  that  is,  in  the  sphere  of  righteousness  or  justice. — 


460  PROVERBS 

For  the  Heb.  smith  {^silversmith  or  goldsmith,  lit.  refinei-)  see  Ju. 
17*  Isa.  40^^  In  postexilic  times  the  goldsmiths  formed  a  guild 
(Neh.  3^)  ;  the  reference  in  Neh.  is  to  general  artistic  work,  else- 
where in  OT.  to  the  making  of  images.*  —  6.  Synonymous, 
binary,  or  binary-ternary.  Claim  not  honor ;  the  sense  is  well 
given  in  RV. :  put  not  thvself  foriuard.  One's  place  in  the  royal 
presence  was  determined  by  rank  or  royal  favor;  the  reference 
here  seems  to  be  to  a  feast.  For  an  example  of  prudence  see 
Jos.,  Ant.  12,  4.  9.  —  7,  Single  sentence,  containing  antithetic 
comparison,  ternary.  The  scene  is  a  dinner  \  cf.  Lu.  14^^^ 
Hither,  that  is,  near  the  prince ;  Grk.  to  me.  —  Be  humbled, 
■=  be  put  lower  (RV.)  at  table.  —  After  prince  the  Heb.  has: 
■whom  (or,  what)  thine  eyes  see  (or,  have  seen),  a  lame  and 
insignificant  expression  in  the  connection.  Grk.  Syr.  Sym.  Lat. 
attach  the  words  to  the  following  line.  Sym.  (with  v.*")  :  what 
thine  eyes  have  seen  do  not  bring  out  to  the  jnultitude  quickly. 

7°-10.  Condemnation  of  gossip  and  tattling. — V.'' ^^  form  a 
quatrain,  and  v.*^  gives  three  lines,  for  which  a  fourth  may  be 
found  by  adopting  the  reading  of  Sym.  given  above,  and  we  then 
have  two  variant  quatrains.  Otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  make  any- 
thing out  of  the  concluding  line  of  v.^  We  may  provisionally 
render  as  follows  : 

*]€.   What  thine  eyes  have  seen 

8.  Report  not  hastily  <  in  public; 

«  For '  what  wilt  thou  do  in  the  end 

When  thy  neighbor  puts  thee  to  the  blush? 

9.  Discuss  the  matter  with  thy  neighbor  (in  private), 
And  reveal  not  his  secret  <  to '  another, 

10.      Lest  he  who  hears  put  thee  to  shame, 
And  thine  ill-repute  pass  not  away. 

7°,  8.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  What  thine  eyes  have  seen  (or, 
see),  that  is,  of  thy  neighbor's  affairs.  —  The  reading  of  the  second 
line  of  the  couplet  is  got  by  changing  two  vowels ;  ht. :  do  not 
bring  forth  to  the  multitude  hastily  (Heb.:  go  not  forth  to  strive 
[or,  to  strife']  hastily).      Instead  of  a  warning  against  lawsuits  or 

*  On  casting  in  metal  see  Now.,  Arch.  <J  43,  4;  Rawl.,  Phoen.,  ch.  7;  Pietsch- 
mann,  Phoen.,  pp.  175,  246  al.;  Moore,  Judges,  on  JUi  178. 


XXV.  5-IO  4^1 

quarrels  we  thus  have  a  caution  against  gossip  (see  note  on  16"^), 
which  is  the  topic  of  the  next  quatrain.  The  term  hastily  implies 
thoughtlessness,  impropriety.  —  In  the  third  line  the  Heb.  has: 
lest  luhat  wilt  thou  do  etc.  ?  or,  lest  what  thou  wilt  do  etc.,  which 
is  syntactically  impossible,  and  the  majority  of  expositors  have 
supplied  a  word  after  lest,  as  :  lest  thou  know  not  what  to  do*  \ 
lest  it  be  said :  "  what  wilt  thou  do^^'>^  lest  the  question  "what 
doest  thou?'''  he  the  end  of  it.\  ThcbC  insertions  are  not  easy, 
and  do  not  produce  satisfactory  senses,  and  Ewald's  translation, 
lest  thou  do  something  (^ihat  is,  something  thou  oughtest  not  to  do), 
is  equally  unsatisfactory.  It  is  better  to  change  lest  to /or,  or  (with 
Reuss)  to  omit  it.  —  The  second  couplet  describes  the  confusion  of 
the  tattler  when  he  is  charged  with  his  fault.  JVeighdor  here  =  any 
man  with  whom  one  has  relations  (cf.  Lu.  lo^'"'^-).  The  situation 
described  is  a  private  difficulty.  Cf.  BS.  27^^-^  —  9, 10.  Single  sen- 
tence ;  v.^  is  ternary,  v.'°  is  binary  (or  binary-ternary) .  The  injunc- 
tion is  identical  with  that  of  the  preceding  quatrain.  Lit.  quarrel 
thy  quarrel  etc.,  =  debate  thy  cause  (RV.)  or  discuss  the  matter 
(Hodgson)  with  thy  neighbor,  that  is,  with  him  alone,  in  private  — 
do  not  talk  of  his  affairs  to  others.  He  7t>ho  hears  thee  =  any  one 
who  hears  thy  talk,  and  thus  becomes  aware  of  thy  gossiping,  un- 
trustworthy, and  dangerous  character  ;  but  we  should  perhaps,  with 
the  Grk.,  read  thy  neighbor,  as  in  v.^.  —  On  secret  see  notes  on  3^^ 
1 1^^  The  second  cl.  of  v.^  reads,  in  the  Heb. :  and  reveal  not  ail- 
other's  secret ;  Lat.  :  do  not  reveal  a  secret  to  another,  which  is  a 
more  appropriate  injunction  than  that  of  the  Heb.,  being  exactly 
parallel  to  the  preceding  Hne.  —  Ill-repute,  properly,  defamatory 
talk,  usually  active,  concerning  others  (Gen.  37-  Jer.  20^**  Pr.  10^*), 
here  concerning  the  man  himself,  and  so  equivalent  to  his  reputa- 
tion; a  babbler,  the  proverb  says,  is  universally  disliked  and 
despised. 

XXV.  1.  1^  'h-f-z;  (gB  TToiSaat  =  no::;  (g***-"- ^  Tropot^ii/at,  probably  cor- 
rection after  |^.  —  (§  adds  at  dStaKpirot  (var.  e^udiaKptroi,  diaKpiTOi),  perh. 
=  miscellaneous,  and  representing  "^  3)  (Jag.)  ;  S^  render  (5  by  \-ipv  pro- 
found, that  is,  "  not  (easily)  comprehensible."  ^T  omits  |tj  n;:^^',  probably 
by  scribal  error.  —  2.  |^  ipn;  (5  n^^  (Grabe  reads  Ti/xai'),  =  "i|"'n  (Jag.), 
from  lp\  —  4.    ^   ^'^T  f\-\-i-^  Ni'>-;    @  koX  Ko.dapiaQi\aerai.  Kadapbv  &irav  (ti^i'D 

«  Saad.  Rashi,  Schult.  RV.  t  Hitz.  De.  Str.  al.  %  Wild. 


462  PROVERBS 

was  read  by  S  and  Bemidbar  Rab.  c.  7) ;  read  with  Dys.  Wild.  iSo  insj  NS'l; 
Frank.  f\-\;i,  instead  of  fiii-j. — 3C  xaii'  I",  =  fl">V);.  —  7°,  8a.  S  a  elSov  oi 
6(pda\iJ.ol  crov  fxij  i^ev^yKrjs  ets  irXrjdos  rax^-  Read,  with  Bi.,  in  v.*^ :  Nxh  Sn 
-inp  3^^.  Elsewhere  3^'^  =  i?t  abundance,  and  3^,  except  in  such  adverbial 
expressions,  is  always  defined  by  a  noun  (so  12  times  in  Pr.) ;  yet  it  is  possible 
that  from  such  an  expression  as  ctn  3^  (20'')  it  may  have  come  to  be  =  rnul- 
titude ;  cf.  Syr.  .N3">n.  If  this  sense  be  thought  improbable,  then  for  a^  we 
might  read  td^.  —  For  |§  p  read  ^o. 

11,  12.  Value  of  wise  advice. — The  meaning  of  several  words 
in  the  quatrain  is  so  uncertain,  and  the  text  is  in  such  bad  condi- 
tion, that  only  a  tentative  translation  can  be  given.      The  Heb. 

11.  Golden  fruits  in  silver  carvings 
Is  a  word  fitly  (?)  spoken. 

12.  A  golden  earring  and  a  necklace  (?)  of  gold 
Is  a  wise  reprover  to  an  ear  that  hears. 

11.  The  first  noun  (RV.  apples  here  and  Joel  i^-  Cant.  2^-*  -f^^^ 
8^)  is  variously  understood  as  meaning  apple,  apricot,  quince, 
citron,  orange ;  all  that  is  certain  is  that  it  signifies  some  sort  of 
fruit.* — The  second  noun  signifies  carved  work  on  a  stone  or 
image  (Lev.  26^  Nu.  33^')  or  carvings  or  drawings  or  pictures  on 
a  wall  (Ez.  8^^).t  Here  it  has  been  rendered  ornamental  objects 
(Saad.),  admirable  thitigs  (Sym.  Theod.),  beaten  work  (Syr. 
'Yaxg.),  filigree-work  (RV.  n\dirg.),  pictures  (AV.  Wild.),  salvers 
(Luth.  De.),  baskets  (Ew.  RV.),  necklace  (Grk.,-  possibly  error  of 
text  for  basket),  couches,  or  sofas  (Lat.),  —  The  golden  fruit  of 
the  Heb.  text  must  be  understood  to  mean  an  object  of  solid  gold, 
which  does  not  accord  with  "  pictures  of  silver  "  or  "  baskets  of 
silver  "  ;  solid  gold  apples  or  other  fruits  were  never  put  in  such 
pictures  or  baskets,  nor  would  the  representation  thus  given  fur- 
nish a  natural  simile  for  the  thought  of  the  couplet.  The  inter- 
pretation ^^/(/<?;/-^(?/i?;ri7'/;7///j-  is  not  permitted  by  the  usage  of  the 
language.  J — The  interpretation  y?/"/);  (that  is,  under  proper  cir- 

*  H.  B.  Tristram  {Survey  of  West.  Pal.,  4,  294,  and  Nat.  Hist,  of  the  Bible) 
apricot ;  W.  R.  Smith  {Jomn.  of  Philol.,  13,  65)  and  I.  Low  {Aram.  Pfianz., 
p.  155)  apple ;  Celsus  {Hierobot.,  i,  254  ff.)  and  Houghton  {PSBA.,  12,  i,  42) 
quince ;    De.  takes  golden  apples   (aurea  mala)   to  be  oranges. 

t  For  the  sense  thought,  imagining  see  iSH  1//  73'. 

X  Tristram  :  golden  apricots  in  silvery  foliage,  a  charming  picture,  but  not 
obtainable  from  the  text. 


XXV.  II-I2  4^3 

cumstances  and  conditions,  in  due  season)  is  inferred  from  15-^ 
and  from  the  connection  ;  the  meaning  of  the  Heb.  expression  is 
doubtful.  — 12.  Earring,  as  in  Gen.  35'*  Ju.  S-'* ;  the  word  may 
also  mean  nose ri'/ig,  as  in  ii"  Gen.  24"  Isa.  3-^  Ez.  16^-.  —  The 
rendering  necklace  (RV.  ornament)  suits  Cant.  7''-'  (the  only 
other  place  where  the  word  occurs  in  OT.),  and  corresponds  well 
to  earj-itig ;  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  however,  take  the  word  to  mean  some 
sort  of  precious  stone  (a  sense  which  also  would  suit  Cant,  7''"'), 
and  its  signification  must  be  regarded  as  doubtful.  The  second 
gold  (Lam.  4^  Isa.  13^^  Job  2%''''^  31^^  xp  45«'^«>  Cant.  5"  Dan.  lO'^) 
is  a  poetic  word  (RV.  Ji?ie  gold).  By  changes  of  text  the  qua- 
train may  be  rendered  conjecturally  as  follows  : 

Like  graved  work  of  gold  and  carved  work  of  silver 
Is  a  word  fitly  (?)  spoken. 

Like  an  earring  of  gold  and  an  ornament  of  silver 
Is  a  wise  reproof  to  an  ear  that  hears. 

Like  is  supplied  (twice)  as  an  expression  more  natural  in  Eng. 
than  the  Heb.  form.  The  sense  graved  ziwrk  is  obtained  by  a 
transposition  of  two  letters  in  the  Hebrew ;  the  resulting  word 
occurs  in  Ex.  28"- -^-^^  3^^6.14.30  ^  j^_  ^29  ^  (^  ^A^).xim  Zgch.  3^ 
i//  74". — The  and  (instead  of  in  or  on)  follows  the  norm  of  the 
third  line,  and  secures  a  better  sense  —  the  rendering  like  gohlen 
graving  on  silver  carved  work  (or,  on  a  carved  figure  of  silver) 
gives  a  combination  hardly  congruous.  —  In  the  third  line  the 
term  silver  is  substituted  (by  an  easy  change  of  letters)  for  the 
word  of  the  Heb.,  and  the  line  is  thus  more  nearly  assimilated  to 
the  first  line,  Rep7-oof  (instead  of  reprover)  is  parallel  to  7vord, 
and  requires  only  a  slight  change  in  the  Hebrew.  —  The  point  of 
comparison  in  both  couplets  seems  to  be  the  adornment  of  char- 
acter which  results  from  wise  advice  given  to  receptive  minds ; 
see  i"  3-^  4^  14^'*,  and  cf.  BS.  50'  22''.  This  last  passage  compares 
a  mind  composed  and  fixed  by  wisdom  to  ornamentation  (sculp- 
tures) on  a  wall,  and  it  has  been  held  that  in  like  manner  the 
thought  of  v."  is  the  fixedness  and  enduring  character  of  counsel 
given  to  a  man  of  sense  (Frank.).  To  this  interpretation  it  seems 
to  be  an  objection  that  it  does  not  accord  with  v.'^,  with  which  v." 
is  probably  identical  in  meaning,  whether  the  two  couplets  form  a 
real  quatrain,  or  v.^'  be  a  variant  of  v.". 


464  PROVERBS 

13,  The  faithful  messenger. 

Like  the  coolness  of  snow  in  harvest-time 

Is  a  faithful  messenger  to  those  who  send  him. 

Comparison,  with  added  explanation,  —  ternary.  The  rhythmic 
norm  here  changes  from  the  quatrain  (as  in  III.)  to  the  couplet 
(as  in  II.).  On  the  time  of  harvest  see  note  on  6^  Grk.  here 
understands  a  fall  of  snow,  but  this,  as  is  suggested  in  26\  would 
be  untimely  (so  Rashi)  ;  the  reference  is  more  probably  to  drinks 
cooled  by  snow  brought  from  the  mountains.*  —  As  third  line 
the  Heb.  adds :  he  restores  ( =  refreshes)  his  master's  soul 
(=  spirit),  an  unnecessary  explanation  (contrary  to  the  manner 
of  proverbs),  a  gloss. —  Bickell  makes  the  Heb.  text  a  couplet: 
As  snow  in  heat  is  a  faithful  etc.,  he  refreshes  etc. 

14,  Braggart  pretence  of  liberality. 

Clouds  and  wind  and  no  rain  — 

So  is  the  man  who  boasts  of  gifts  ungiven. 

Comparison,  ternary.  The  first  line  describes  a  deceitful  appear- 
ance or  attitude  :  clouds  and  wind,  as  it  were,  boast  of  rain,  and 
there  is  none.  In  second  line  lit.  a  gift  of  falsity,  which  must 
refer  not  to  what  is  received  (Hitz.),  but  (Saad.  E\v.  al.)  to  what 
is  bestowed.  Clouds,  properly  vapors,  mists  (Jer.  10^^  51^*^  i/'  i350> 
which  ascend.  For  Arabic  parallels  see  Schult,  De.,  and,  for 
others,  Malan. 

15,  Power  of  patience  and  gentleness. 

By  forbearance  <  anger  is  pacified,' 
And  a  mild  word  breaks  the  bone. 

Synonymous,  ternary.  The  Heb.  has  a  prince  (instead  of  anger)  ; 
but  one  does  not  show  forbearance  to  a  prince  —  it  is  he  who  may 
be  forbearing.  The. emendation  requires  only  the  change  of  a 
letter.  Forbeai-ance,  lit.  sloivness  to  (lit.  deferring  of)  anger 
(1429  15I8  i6''2  Ex.  34«).  On  prince  (Ju.  ii«  Isa.  i^o  Dan.  ii>«) 
see  note  on  6'j    the  rendering /«^?^^  (De.  RV.  marg.)  is  improb- 

*  For  the  ancient  custom  see  Xen.,  Mem.,  2,  I.  30;  Aul.  Gel.,  19,  5 ;  a  similar 
usage  in  Austria  is  mentioned  by  Michaelis;  cf.  notes  of  Hitz.  and  Zockler,  and, 
for  the  modern  custom  in  Syria,  Hackett,  lllust.  of  Script.,  pp.  53  ff. 


XXV.  13-19  4^5 

able.  Instead  of  is  pacified  the  Heb.  has :  is  befooled,  deceived, 
enticed  (i'^  i6^  24^*  i  K.  22^),  a  strange  term  in  the  connection; 
the  emendation  is  taken  from  15'^  Breaks  the  done  =  "destroys 
power,"  that  is,  in  this  case,  takes  away  desire  and  disposition  to 
speak  angrily. 

16.  Moderation  in  enjoyments. 

If  thou  findest  honey,  eat  what  is  enough, 
Lest  thou  be  surfeited  and  vomit  it  up. 

Single  sentence,  binary.  On  honey  see  note  on  16^*.  With  the 
couplet  cf.  V-'''  below,  and  see  24'^     Cf.  BS.  31-^  37"'''^^- 

17.  Caution  against  wearying  one's  friends  with  visits. 

Let  thy  foot  be  seldom  in  thy  neighbor's  house. 
Lest  he  be  sated  with  thee  and  hate  thee. 

Single  sentence,  ternary-binary.  Lit.  make  precious  (  =  rare)  thy 
foot.  Cf  BS.  21-^  13".  —  This  couplet  bears  a  general  resemblance 
to  the  preceding,  but  is  not  so  hke  it  that  the  two  should  be  con- 
sidered as  forming  a  quatrain. 

18.  The  false  witness. 

A  maul,  a  sword,  a  sharp  arrow  — 

Such  is  the  man  who  bears  false  witness  against  his  neighbor. 

Single  sentence,  virtual  comparison,  ternary.  In  the  Heb.  the 
couplet  is  a  metaphor :  a  maul  etc,  is  the  man  etc.  The  term 
rendered  maul  means  "  that  which  shatters,"  as  a  hammer  or  a 
club;  related  terms  are  found  in  Jer.  51^  Ez.  9I  —  The  second 
line  has  the  expression  of  the  Decalogue  (Ex.  20^^  Dt.  5^"''^^), 
probably  a  common  legal  phrase. 

19.  The  hope  of  a  bad  man  is  ill-founded. 

A  broken  tooth  and  an  unsteady  foot. 

Such  is  a  bad  man's  ground  of  hope  in  time  of  trouble. 

Metaplior,  quaternary.  Such  is  supplied  as  in  the  preceding  coup- 
let. The  rendering  broken  requires  a  slight  change  in  the  Hebrew. 
Unsteady,  or  out  of  Joint,  or  palsied,  is  lit.  wavering,  tottering 
(Job  12').  On  bad  (or,  faithless)  see  notes  on  2"  23^^  For  the 
sense  ground  of  hope  (one  word  in  Heb.)  see  14-®  Job  8'*  31^*  Jer. 
2  H 


466  PROVERBS 

jf  Ez.  29'^  That  on  which  the  bad  man  rehes  will  fail  him, 
says  the  proverb,  in  time  of  stress.  —  To  break  a  man's  teeth  is  to 
deprive  him  of  power  (»//  3''^^  58'''''),  an  expression  derived,  per- 
haps, from  observation  of  wild  beasts  (cf.  0  35'^  112'")  or  of 
savage  men.  —  The  translation  :  (such  is)  confidence  in  a  bad  (or, 
tmfaithfiil)  man  etc.  (De.  RV.  al.')  is  in  itself  improbable,  and 
gives  a  statement  that  is  not  quite  correct :  it  is  not  confidence 
but  the  ground  or  basis  of  confidence  that  is  as  unreliable  as  a 
broken  tooth  etc.  —  The  ground  of  hope  referred  to  is  wealth  or 
power,  or  deceit  and  violence. 

9.  For  pj  -inx  ib  read  insS  ^-iD.  — 11.  J^  ^nsn;  read  inns.  Write  1  instead 
of  3  before  n'13'i'C.  See  Lag.'s  note.  —  |^  vjdn  '^>';  see  Geier,  Ges.  Thes.  Ges.- 
Buhl,  DBD.  and  De.'s  note.  O'^S  omit;  S  (and  so  IL)  ev  Ka.ip(^  o.vro\i; 
2[  niN-DD,  perh.  (Pink.)  from  D^s  (Treto-ts),  and  =  "in  the  way  of  argument  (or, 
persuasion)";  'AGiS^'^"  kiti  dp^6fou(rii' aiJTiJ),  perh.  =  "  under  suitable  con- 
ditions, on  appropriate  occasions,"  perh.  (Ges.  Lag.)  represents  cjon'^,  cf.  8^™, 
a  reading  (adopted  by  Frank)  which  is  not  precisely  parallel  to  an  ear  that 
hears,  and  is  not  quite  natural  in  the  connection.  Ges.  Orelli  al.  take  the 
stem  in  rj^.s  to  be  jo.x  tiirji  (as  in  jdin  wheel^,  and  the  noun  as  =  tivie  (Ges.) 
or  circwnstajice  (Orelli) ;  Barth.  assumes  st.  ."i>r,  and  the  expression  (after  the 
Arab.)  as  =  "  according  to  its  propriety."  Others  compare  the  late  Jew.  use 
of  jaiN  in  the  sense  of  vianner  (Rashi  according  to  its  modes,  =  on  its  basis). 
None  of  these  explanations  are  satisfactory  —  the  word  may  be  scribal  error  — 
but  nothing  better  suggests  itself  than  to  adopt  the  interpretation  of  S. — 
12.  1^  3.~o;  read  ^Dj.  The  origin  of  3pd  is  unknown.  Neither  cover,  conceal 
for  the  stem  (Ass.  Arab.)  nor  7tiark,  spot  (Aram.)  suggests  a  suitable  sense; 
the  meaning  blood-red  in  Jew.  Aram,  is  prob.  merely  a  special  sense  of  mark. 
|§  nx;  (@  X670S;  Bi.  la-i;  better  rnp>.  — 13.  ?^  nri  and  ci^^;  (g  e|o5os 
(=  PvSi-)  and  Kara  KaOfxa  (=  on^).  <S  follows  @;  2^  follows  ^. — 
15-18.  1^  Tip  nns'';  read  t]%p  apv,  Frank.  ']y_'p.  — 1§  I'oo  is  regarded  by 
Lag.  as  incorrect  pointing  for  fsr  (Jer.  51^^  cf.  Ez.  9^) ;  the  stem  roJ  shatter 
is  more  suitable  than   I'ri  scatter.  — 19.   pj  i-n  maybe  Qal  Part,  (for  nyp), 

—  crumbling  {y\t\%Q\i!),  "^  putridus,  which  would  answer  to  following  un- 
steady; an  equivalent  sense  is  given  by  the  reading  n-n  ((g^^T  and  perhaps 
3L) ;  it  is  belter  to  read  h-t,  the  first  letter  may  have  fallen  out  after  preced- 
ing   (Frank.).  —  ^  i^-ir,  as  if  abbreviated  Pu.  Part.;   better  Qal  Part.  m;'b. 

—  On  the  haggadic  interpretation  of  the  couplet  as  referring  to  faithless 
Israel's  reliance  on  other  nations  (tooth  and  foot  of  beasts)  Wild,  cites 
Houtsma,  in  ZATW.  1895,  PP-  '5'  f- 

20.    Gayety  in  the  presence  of  sorrow.  —  Heb. :   One  who  lays 

off{?)  a  garment  in  lime  of  cold,  vinegar  on  soda,  (so  is)  he  who 


XXV.  I9-20  467 

sings  songs  to  a  troubled  heart.  The  rendering  lays  off  is  doubtful ; 
the  verb  usually  means  adorn  (Isa.  61'°  Job  40'"  al),  once  (Job  28*) 
pass  (or,  stalk)  by,  whence  the  Causative  (which  occurs  only  here) 
might  =  put  off  (as  in  Jon.  3'',  with  a  different  verb,  laid  off  his  robe 
is  ht.  made  his  robe  pass  from  him).  But,  even  if  this  translation  be 
correct,  the  line  is  not  in  place,  for  it  describes  an  act  of  impru- 
dence, while  the  connection  calls  for  something  not  only  inappro- 
priate but  painful.  Nor  does  the  translation  he  who  adorns  himself 
with  a  garment  give  a  suitable  sense.  Moreover  the  line  is  sub- 
stantially, in  the  Heb.,  the  repetition  (with  difference  of  vowels)  of 
second  line  of  v.'^,  and  is  not  found  in  the  Grk. ;  it  is  better,  there- 
fore, to  omit  it  as  dittogram.  —  There  remains  a  couplet,  in  which 
also  the  form  of  first  line  is  not  clear.  The  Heb.  neter  is  not  our 
nitre  (potassium  nitrate),  but  native  sodium  carbonate,  nearly  our 
common  soda,  more  precisely  natron  (Grk.  vcrpov,  Lat.  nitrum)  ; 
it  is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  OT.  only  in  Jer.  2--,  from  which 
passage  it  appears  that  it  was  used  in  washing  the  person.  The 
effect  of  the  acid  vinegar  on  the  alkali  natron  would  be  to  destroy 
the  efficiency  of  the  latter  ;  but  destruction  of  efficiency  is  not  the 
point  of  the  aphorism,  which  rather  calls  for  some  painful  effect. 
The  Grk.  has  :  as  vinegar  for  a  wound  (or,  a  sore),  which  is  suit- 
able, since  the  immediate  effect  of  the  application  of  vinegar  to  a 
wound  is  painful*  —  If  the  reading  of  the  Grk.  be  adopted,  and 
be  supposed  to  stand  for  another  word  than  Heb.  neter,  there  still 
remains  the  latter  to  be  accounted  for.  It  might  be  regarded  as 
erroneous  insertion  ;  but,  from  the  norm  of  v.^*-^'',  we  expect  the 
mention  of  two  combinations.  Bickell :  7vater  on  natron,  and 
Grk.  :  as  a  moth  in  a  garment  and  a  worm  in  ivood  do  not  suit 
the  couplet ;  possibly  the  missing  expression  is  :  smoke  to  the  eyes 
(10-^).     The  couplet  may  have  read  : 

Vinegar  to  a  wound  and  ...  , 
So  is  a  song  to  a  troubled  heart. 

In  second  line  the  Heb.  is  lit.  :  and  one  who  sings  in  songs,  in 
which,  in  any  case,  the  and  and  /«  must  be  omitted,  and  the  cor- 

*  On  the  medicinal  use  of  vinegar  for  wounds  see  Lag.'s  note.     The  modern 
Egyptians  mix  it  with  natron  as  remedy  for  toothache. 


468  PROVERBS 

respondent  to  vinegar  is  rather  song  than  singer.  A  joyous  song 
gives  a  pang  to  a  sad  heart. 

21,  22.  Repaying  evil  with  good. 

21.  If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  give  him  to  eat, 
And  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him  to  drink; 

22.  For  thou  wilt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head, 
And  Yahweh  will  reward  thee. 

The  quatrain  is  a  single  sentence,  ternary  (as  emended).  The 
quatrain  form  suggests  that  this  aphorism  properly  belongs  in  III. 
(cf.  24"-^^)  or  in  the  paragraph  25^"^-. — Enemy  is  lit.  he  who 
hates  thee.  The  Heb.  has  bread  to  eat  and  water  to  drink  ;  bread 
and  water  (omitted  in  the  Grk.  and  Rom.  12-°)  appear  to  be 
glosses.  Heap  coals  of  Jire  on  his  head  —  "  produce  sharp  pain," 
and  the  pain  can  here  be  only  the  pang  of  contrition  —  the 
enemy  will  be  converted  into  a  friend  ;  the  reference,  in  the  con- 
nection, cannot  be  to  punishment  inflicted  by  God.  Or,  less 
naturally,  v.^'*  may  be  understood  to  mean  :  "  thou  wilt  take  ven- 
geance on  him,"  that  is,  the  noble  vengeance  of  returning  good 
for  evil.  —  The  ethical  rule  is  lofty,  though  the  motives  presented 
are  those  of  advantage  to  self.  Instead  of  urging  the  simple  obli- 
gation of  universal  love,  the  sage  insists  on  what  he  thinks  the 
strongest  motive  with  men.  The  declaration  Yahweh  will  reward 
thee  assumes  that  kindness  to  enemies  belonged  to  the  divine 
ethical  code.  Cf.  20-^  2/^'-^^-^^  BS.  28^-'  Mt.  5*^  Rom.  1220.— 
Bickell  omits  on  his  head,  taking  the  meaning  to  be  :  ''thou  wilt 
put  away  the  burning  coals  of  hate,"  and  so  make  a  friend  of  an 
enemy  —  a  sense  not  different  from  the  one  given  above,  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  the  verb  can  have  this  meaning. 

23.  Malicious  talk. 

A  north  wind  brings  rain. 

And  a  backbiting  tongue  makes  an  angry  face. 

Two  parallel  sentences  involving  an  illustration,  ternary.  In  Pal- 
estine rain  comes  usually  from  the  west  (cf.  Lu.  12^^)  ;  it  may 
have  come  also  from  the  northern  mountains,  or  the  word  north 
may  be  used  here  in  a  general  sense,  as  =  "  northerly,"  including 


XXV.  20-26  4^9 

northwest.*  The  word  is  possibly  an  error  of  text.  — The  last 
expression  in  second  line  may  be  rendered  by  the  plu.,  angry 
faces  ■  the  reference  is  to  the  person  or  persons  maligned.  — 
Backbiting  is  ht.  secret. -Gxk.  and  Lat.,  in  second  line,  make 
face  subject. 

24  =  XXI.  9.  — The  natural  suggestion  is  that  this  particular 
collection  {2s'-2f)  was  made  independently  of  collection  II. 
(ioi-22i«). 

25.  Good  news  from  afar. 

As  cold  water  to  a  thirsty  man, 

So  is  good  news  from  a  far  country. 

Virtual  comparison,  quaternary.  The  Heb.  puts  the  two  state- 
ments side  by  side,  and  lets  the  comparison  suggest  itself:  cold 
water  etc.  and  good  news  etc.,  better,  however,  cold  water  etc.  is 
good  neivs  etc.  as  in  v.^^-".  -  Thirsty  is  properly  weary,  the  special 
sense  coming  from  the  connection,  as  in  Job  22'.  — Man  is  ht. 
^^^^l  (^  person).  —The  difficulty  of  getting  news  from  a  distant 
place  heightens  the  refreshment  it  gives.  Cf.  15^°.  Wildeboer 
refers  to  Gen.  45^. 

26.  The  overthrow  of  a  good  man. 

A  troubled  fountain  and  a  ruined  spring  — 

Such  is  the  righteous  man  who  falls  before  the  wicked. 

Virtual  comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  Troubled  is  lit.  trampled 
(Ez  32^  34^«)  ;  it  was  and  is  the  custom  in  Western  Asia  for  men 
and  beasts  to  enter  a  fountain  or  pond,  for  drinking  or  washing, 
and  so  to  foul  the  water  as  to  make  it  useless.  — The  verb  >/A 
(properly  is  moved  out  of  one's  place)  is  the  standing  expression 
for  loss  of  position,  that  is,  of  wealth  and  all  that  makes  life  pros- 
perous and  enjoyable  ;  usually  in  OT.  it  is  said  that  the  righteous 
will  never  be  moved  (io'^°  12^  ^  io<^  15^  i6«^/.),  will  never  be 
ejected  from  his  position  by  the  machinations  of  his  enemies.  In 
one  passage  (^  17')  the  verb  signifies  moral  faltering,  and  in  this 
sense  it  is  sometimes  here  understood,!  with  the  rendering :  the 

*  On  Palestinian  winds  see  Robinson,  Bibl.  Researches,  i,  429  ;  Now.,  ArcA.  J  11. 
t  So  Mercer,  Geier,  Lag.  De.  at. 


4/0  PROVERBS 

righteous  man  who  yields  to  (the  temptation  of)  the  wicked — 
such  an  one  is  a  melancholy  picture  of  lost  purity  and  usefulness, 
like  a  ruined  spring.  In  this  sense,  however,  it  is  the  path  of  rec- 
titude from  which  the  man  is  moved  (so  in  xp  17^),  the  verb  is 
not  naturally  followed  by  such  an  expression  as  before  the  wicked, 
and  it  seems  better  to  understand  our  couplet  as  referring  to  the 
loss  of  social  standing  and  prosperity  by  the  plots  of  bad  men 
(see  12®  16^''  24-  (/^  11^  17^  «/.).  —  For  the  reason  given  above  the 
couplet  probably  does  not  contain  a  reference  to  yielding  to  evil 
through  false  modesty  and  fear  of  men  (Reuss)  ;  nor  can  the 
stress  be  laid  on  the  wicked  as  contrasted  with  the  righteous,  with 
the  interpretation  :  "  if  a  good  man's  fall  is  known  only  to  good 
men,  it  does  not  injure  others,  but  if  it  is  known  to  bad  men,  it 
encourages  them  in  mockery  and  all  evil"  (Str.  Wild.)  —  this  limi- 
tation of  the  range  of  the  couplet  is  not  suggested  by  first  line  or 
by  the  general  tone  of  the  Book,  and  such  a  secret  society  of  the 
righteous,  concealing  the  sins  of  its  members  from  the  outside 
world,  would  be  immoral,  if  it  were  possible. 

27.  The  Heb.  gives  two  unrelated  Hues.  With  the  first :  to 
eat  much  honey  is  not  good  cf.  v.^^  The  second  reads  lit.  :  the 
investigation  (or,  searching  out)  of  their  glory  is  glory,  an  obvi- 
ously corrupt  text.  Some  expositors,  by  change  of  vowels,  get 
the  intelligible  sentence  :  the  investigation  of  difficult  things  is 
glory  (or,  honor),*  that  is:  "there  may  be  a  surfeit  of  honey, 
there  cannot  be  excess  of  investigation"  —  a  not  very  attractive 
antithesis,  and  the  rendering  difficult  is  doubtful.  Noyes  :  so  the 
sea?-ch  of  high  things  is  wea?-iness  (cf.  27^),  which  offers  a  scep- 
tical sentiment,  proper  to  Eccles.,  but  strange  in  Proverbs.  Grk.  : 
it  is  proper  to  honor  notable  sayings,  and  Frank.  :  therefore  refrain 
from  complimentaty  words  (lit.  words  of  honor),  a  sort  of  speech 
as  cloying  as  honey  —  a  rendering  in  itself  appropriate,  but  else- 
where in  OT.  the  Genitive  defining  zvords  is  always  subjective 
(characterizing  them  as  true  or  false  etc.),  never  objective 
(stating  their  aim  or  result).  —  Probably  each  line   has  lost  its 

*  So  De.  Reuss,  Str.  Bi.,  and  the  same  translation,  without  change  of  text,  is 
given  by  Zock.  al.  Hodgson's  in  deeds  of  virtue  to  exceed  is  glorious  furnishes  an 
antithesis  to  the  first  line,  but  cannot  be  got  from  the  Hebrew. 


XXV.  26-XXVI.  I  471 

companion  line,  and  the  text  of  second  line  remains  doubtful ;  it 
is  perhaps  a  corruption  of  v.-"^.  —  For  other  attempts  at  translation 
see  the  notes  of  De.  and  Zockler. 

28.   Absence  of  self-control  is  fatal. 

A  city  broken  through,  without  a  wall  — 
Such  is  a  man  without  self-control. 

Virtual  comparison,  ternary.  Broken  through,  a  breach  made  in 
the  wall,  so  that  it  is  defenceless  —  the  wall  is  practically 
destroyed  ;  the  reference  may  or  may  not  be  to  a  siege.  —  In 
second  line,  lit.  :  a  man  to  whose  spirit  there  is  no  restraint — he 
has  no  defence  against  anger  and  similar  emotions.  —  Such  is 
siipplied. 

20-  ?^  "^r^  "^i';  <5  ^X/cei,  whence  Oort  pr^i  scab  or  scurf  (J^zv.  13"°),  but 
this  is  not  suitable;  Bi.  writes  >70  after  S;',  and  adds  '?>•  a''a  before  ipj. — 
|§  DnB^a  lit'];  read  simply  -\t\  —  (5  in  '',  -ii:'3  nr;  (g^i  is  variation  of  •>; 
©«  is  perhaps  based  on  |^*.  —  21.  '-^  an"i  and  a-'C  are  probably  glosses; 
their  absence  from  (5  may,  however,  be  free  translation. — ||J  -inju';  (5  6 
ix^pdi  aov,  perh.  =  J§,  perh.  =  ria^X  (so  Bi.). — 22.  pj  n.-h;  (g  a-wpeva-eis, 
IL  congregabis.  The  stem  seems  to  mean  snatch,  seize  in  Isa.  30^*  "A  5 2"  Br-  6"''; 
see  Ges.  Tlies.  BDB. ;  here,  in  pregnant  sense,  seize  and  put,  =  heap.  Whether 
it  =  snatch  away  (Bi.)  is  doubtful ;  the  sense  away  might  come  from  the 
context  (as  perh.  in  -^  52"),  but  here,  after  the  omission  of  ^c'ni  "?>',  such 
pregnant  sense  would  be  difficult.  On  the  Ass.  stem  see  De.  BDB. — 
23.  1^  ^'-!^7\-r,  brings  forth,  from  '7in;  (@  i^eyeipei;  3L  dissipat,  from  '?'^n. — 
25.  1^  I'-iN  is  omitted  by  Bi.  unnecessarily.  —  27.  |§  ni^-n  has  been  construed 
(De.  Wild.  «/.)  as  subject  of  the  sentence  and  defined  by  joi  "^dn  :  "  to  make 
gi-eat  the  eating  of  honey";  but  this  construction  is  unnatural  (Stade),  and 
it  is  better  to  read  "t^-in,  as  adj.  much  (so  the  Vrss.).  —  |^  ai'33;  De.  Dys. : 
D^OD.  (S  in  l':  Tijxav  di  XPV  X670US  ivdo^ovs,  perh.  =  ibD  a^aDi  "ipni;  Frank. : 
133  n3T  -\pni.  —  SST  (and  RV.)  carry  over  the  neg.  into  b.   _ 


XXVI.  1-12  (except  V.-)  form  a  Book  of  Fools  —  a  string  of 
sarcasms  on  the  class  most  detested  by  the  sages.  The  folly 
described  is  intellectual. 

1.  The  fool  and  honor. 

As  snow  in  summer,  and  as  rain  in  harvest, 
So  honor  does  not  befit  a  fool. 


472  PROVERBS 

Comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  Honor  is  high  position,  respect, 
especially  public.  The  saying  is  probably  aimed  at  the  elevation 
of  incompetent  men  to  high  places  in  the  governments  of  state 
and  city.     On  the  seasons  see  notes  on  6^  25^^. 

2.  The  groundless  curse. 

Like  the  sparrow  in  its  flitting,  like  the  swallow  in  its  flying, 
The  curse  that  is  groundless  does  not  strike. 

Comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  FUtthig,  lit.  wandering.  Strike, 
lit.  come,  RV.  light.  —  The  point  in  first  line  is  the  aimlessness  of 
the  birds'  motion,  which  never  reaches  a  definite  place.  The  apho- 
rism is  a  partial  denial  of  the  old  belief  (generally  held  among 
early  peoples),  that  blessings  and  curses  had  objective  existence, 
and,  by  whomsoever  and  howsoever  uttered,  always  reached  that 
at  which  they  were  aimed  —  that  is,  that  the  deity  invoked  (in  the 
blessing  or  curse)  was  coerced  by  the  utterance  of  his  name,  and 
could  not  but  respond  to  the  adjuration.  This  belief,  held  by  the 
earlier  Hebrews  (Gen.  27^  Ju.  17^),  necessarily  receded,  to  some 
extent,  before  the  advance  of  a  purer  theistic  faith.  It  is  so 
far  modified  in  the  proverb  that  the  power  of  an  unjust  curse 
is  denied.  How  far  the  belief  in  the  efficiency  of  well-founded 
blessings  and  curses  remained  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
—  In  second  line  the  Heb.  margin  reads  :  the  curse  .  .  .  comes 
to  him,  the  him  referring  to  the  curser  or  to  the  cursed  (the  old 
belief,  never  completely  eradicated)  ;  but  the  neg.  particle  is 
required  by  the  illustration  of  first  line,  in  which  the  point  is 
failure  to  reach,  not  certainty  of  reaching.  —  The  translations 
sparrow  (6^  7^  Gen.  7"  i/^  11^  84^^^*'  Eccl.  9^^  al.)  and  swallow 
(ij/  84^^^*),  though  not  certain,  are  probably  substantially  correct.* 

3.  Government  of  the  fool. 

A  whip  for  the  horse,  a  bridle  for  the  ass, 
And  a  rod  for  the  back  of  fools. 

Virtual  comparison,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary.  A  fool, 
says  the  proverb,  is  like  a  beast,  not  to  be  controlled  by  appeal  to 

*  See  Bochart,  Hierozoicoji ;   Tristram,  Survey  of  West.  Pal.,  and  Nat.  Hist,  of 
the  Bib. ;  Now.,  Arch. ;  Hastings,  Diet,  of  the  Bib.  ;  Cheyne,  Cyclop.  Bibl. 


XXVI.  1-6  473 

reason.  The  designation  of  whip  for  horse  and  bridle  for  ass  may 
be  in  part  rhetorical  variation  —  both  animals  may  at  times  have 
required  both  instruments  of  guidance  ;  but  there  may  be  special 
propriety  in  the  terms ;  the  ass,  the  favorite  riding-animal  (Gen. 
2  2^  Ju.  i"  I  S.  25™  Zech.  9^),  hardly  needed  the  whip  in  moving 
over  the  rough  mountain  roads  of  Palestine  ;  but  for  horses,  rarely 
employed  except  in  war  and  on  plains  (21^^  2  S.  15^  2  K.  9^*  Isa.  31^ 
Job  39^*-^^  1/'  2o'<**'),  the  whip  might  be  useful;  cf.  note  on  21^^ 
See  10"  ip  32^ 

4,  5.   How  to  answer  fools. 

4.  Answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly 
Lest  thou  become  like  him. 

5,  Answer  a  fool  according  to  his  folly, 
Lest  he  become  wise  in  his  own  conceit. 

Each  couplet  is  a  single  sentence,  ternary ;  the  two  form  an  anti- 
thetic quatrain.  The  first  is  a  warning  against  descending  in  man- 
ner of  thought  to  the  fool's  level ;  the  second  enjoins  rebuke  of 
folly.  The  Talmudic  interpretation,*  which  refers  v.''  to  worldly 
things,  v.^  to  religious  things,  misses  the  point ;  such  juxtaposition 
of  contradictories  belongs  to  the  nature  of  gnomic  teaching.  The 
rabbis,  however,  took  exception  to  these  discrepancies,  and  hesi- 
tated to  receive  Proverbs  into  the  Canon ;  the  objection  was 
removed  by  such  interpretations  as  that  quoted  above.  Cf.  Aboth 
Rabbi  Nathan,  i.,  and  see  notes  on  'f  11^.  The  second  line  of 
v."*  is  lit.  lest  thou  also  become  like  him.     Cf.  BS.  22^^. 

6.  The  fool  as  messenger.  —  Heb. :  He  cuts  off  {his)  feet, 
drinks  in  viole?ice,  who  sends  a  message  by  a  fool.  The  second 
line  expresses  an  imprudent  act,  of  which  the  injurious  conse- 
quence is  described  in  first  line,  but  the  text  and  meaning  of 
the  latter  are  not  clear.  Cuts  off  {his)  feet  is  commonly  taken 
to  signify:  "deprives  himself  of  the  power  of  locomotion "  — 
that  is,  to  send  a  fool  is  equivalent  to  not  sending  at  all ;  the 
expression  is  perhaps  designedly  bizarre.  In  the  phrase  drinks  in 
violence  the  verb  must  mean  not  "practices"  (as  in  4^^  Job  15^®) 

*  Shabbath,  30  b,  cited  by  De. 


474  PROVERBS 

but  "suffers"  violence  (as  in  Job  21-").  The  noun  makes  a  dififi- 
culty  ;  the  connection  calls  for  a  sense  like  "  damage,  injury  "  (so 
De.  RV.  ai.),  but  the  word  means  "violent  wrong,  highhanded 
injustice"  (cf.  4^'),  an  expression  which  seems  here  out  of  place. 
—  The  text  of  first  line  appears  to  be  in  disorder;  we  might  read 
for  the  second  phrase  :  prepares  disgrace  (for  himself)  ;  or,  for 
the  line  :  he  cuts  off  his  messenger'' s  legs.  We  get  from  the  couplet 
only  the  general  sense  that  it  is  imprudent  or  dangerous  to  employ 
a  fool  as  a  messenger. 

7.  The  fool  as  proverb-monger.  —  The  second  hne :  aitd  a 
proverd  in  the  mouth  of  fools  is  clear,  but  no  precise  translation  of 
first  line  can  be  given.  The  first  word  of  the  Heb.  is  taken  to 
mean  either  "  draw  up,  elevate,  take  away,"  or  "  hang  loose." 
Hence  :  take  axvay  the  power  of  locomotion  from  the  lame  (Grk.), 
that  is,  if  a  lame  man  can  walk,  a  fool  can  utter  wise  sayings*  ; 
the  legs  [of  others]  are  higher  than  those  of  the  lame,  and  so  a 
proverb  is  too  high  for  a  fool  (Rashi)  ;  like  dancing  to  a  cripple, 
so  is  etc.  (Luth.)  ;  the  legs  of  the  lame  are  not  equal  (AV.)  ;  the 
lame  man's  legs  hang  too  loose  (Ew. ),  or  .  .  .  hang  loose  (RV.)  f 
With  change  of  text :  what  the  lame  ?naji's  legs  are  to  him,  so  is  a 
proverb  etc.  (Reuss)  ;  {as)  the  leaping  of  the  legs  of  a  lame  man, 
{so  is)  a  proverb  etc.,  that  is,  both  are  impossible  (Hi.  Frank., 
=  Grk.  Luth.).  The  sense  of  the  couplet  perhaps  is:  a  fool 
fares  with  an  aphorism  as  a  lame  man  with  his  legs  —  he  limps 
and  does  not  go  far. 

8.  Honoring  a  fool.  — The  least  improbable  translation  of  the 
Heb.  is  that  of  AV.  :  As  he  who  binds  a  stone  in  a  sling  so  is  he 
who  gives  ho?ior  to  a  fool.  The  first  line  then  expresses  an  absurd 
procedure,  namely,  the  fixing  a  stone  in  a  sling  so  firmly  that  it  can- 
not be  thrown  out  (so  Ew.).  Delitzsch  (following  Rashi)  takes  the 
meaning  to  be  :  "  as  a  stone  is  placed  in  a  sling  only  to  be  thrown 
out,  so  honor,  bestowed  on  a  fool,  does  not  remain"  ;  but  if  the 
author  had  meant  this,  he  would  rather  have  said  :  "  as  a  stone  is 
slung  from  a  shng,  so  honor  vanishes  from  a  fool."  —  The  meaning 

*  So  substantially  Syr.  Targ.  Lat.  Saad.  Zock.  al. 
t  So  substantially  Ges.  De.  Sir.  Kamp.  Wild.  aL 


XXVI.  6-IO  475 

sling  given  (in  the  Grk.)  to  the  last  word  of  the  Hne  is  by  no  means 
certain  ;  it  may  also  perhaps  be  translated  stone-heap,  but  to  bind 
(or,  enclose^  a  stone  in  a  stone-heap  (that  is,  it  is  said,  to  do  a  use- 
less thing)  is  not  a  natural  expression.  —  Nor,  if  we  take  the  first 
word  as  =  hag  (or,  bundle^  (as  in  7^),  does  the  rendering  as  a 
bag  (or,  bundle)  of  stones  (properly  a  stone-bag)  iti  a  stone-heap 
offer  any  clear  sense,  and  if,  on  the  authority  of  Zech.  3^  i  C.  29^, 
we  make  the  first  stone  =^  precious  stone,  gem  (Saad.  RV.),  this 
does  not  suit  the  verb  bind,  or  the  noun  bufidle.  —  It  is  equally 
inadmissible  to  give  to  the  first  word  the  meaning  put  =  lay, 
throw,  as  in  Lat.  :  as  he  who  casts  a  stone  on  the  heap  of  Mercury,* 
that  is,  as  he  who  takes  part  in  idolatrous  worship  ;  the  allusion  is 
to  the  custom  of  casting  stones  on  a  sacred  cairn,  particularly  at 
the  foot  of  a  Hermes-pillar,  the  survival  of  a  very  old  usage. f 
Luther  :  as  one  who  throivs  a  jewel  o?i  the  gallows-heap  (that  is, 
the  heap  of  stones  at  the  foot  of  the  gallows).  — The  proverb  may 
have  had  some  such  form  as :  "  like  him  who  puts  a  jewel  on  a 
swine's  snout  is  he  who  gives  honor  to  a  fool." 

9.  The  fool  with  an  aphorism.  —  The  second  line  is  identical 
with  second  Hne  of  v.^  The  first  line  may  read,  if  we  follow  the 
usage  of  Biblical  Hebrew  :  a  thorn  gro7vs  up  in  the  hand  of  a 
drunken  man,  which  is  meaningless,  or  a  thorn  goes  up  into  the 
hand  etc.  (RV.),  which  is  contrary  to  fact  (the  verb  does  not 
mean  pierce).  Or,  instead  o^  thorn  we  may  render  thornbush  (as 
in  2  K.  14^  Cant.  2-),  and,  with  De.,  assuming  that  the  expression 
contains  a  late-Heb.  idiom,  translate  :  a  thorn-branch  cojnes  into 
the  hafid  (=  into  the  possession)  of  a  drunken  man  ;  the  resulting 
sense  is  not  inapposite  :  there  is  a  touch  of  humor  in  the  compari- 
son of  a  fool  with  a  wise  saw  in  his  mouth  to  a  half-crazy  drunken 
man  brandishing  a  stick.  We  may,  perhaps,  read  :  like  a  thorn- 
stick  in  the  ha?ids  of  a  drufiken  fnati  is  an  aphorism  in  the  mouth 
of  a  fool. 

10.  Corrupt  text ;  lit.  :  tnuch  produces  (or,  wounds)  all,  and 
he  who  hires  a  fool  and  he  who  hires  passers-by ;    the  word  ren- 

*  So  the  Midtash  ;  cf.  the  Talm.  tract  Cholin,  133a. 

t  The  god  was  often,  in  early  times,  represented  by  a  cairn,  and  it  was  a  pious 
duty  to  throw  a  stone  on  the  heap. 


476  PROVERBS 

dered  7nuch  may  also  mean  master,  lord,  and  is  by  some  (proba- 
bly incorrectly)  rendered  an  archer.  Many  combinations  and 
modifications  of  the  words  may  be  made,  but  the  text  is  in  too 
bad  condition  to  permit  a  translation,  and  no  satisfactory  emen- 
dation has  been  suggested.* 

11.  The  fool  as  learner. 

Like  a  dog  that  returns  to  his  vomit 
So  the  fool  repeats  his  folly. 

Comparison,  ternary.  Or,  first  line  freely  :  as  a  dog  returns  etc. 
Returns  etc.,  that  is,  to  eat  it ;  the  fool,  how  often  soever  warned, 
does  not  learn;  cf.  Terence,  Adelph.,  i.  i,  Hor.  Ep.,  x.  24.!  — 
The  Grk.  adds  a  couplet  which  is  word  for  word  the  same  with 
BS.  4"'  (Jager)  ;  the  addition  is  probably  by  a  Christian  scribe. 

12.  Folly  versus  self-conceit. 

Seest  thou  a  man  wise  in  his  own  conceit  — 
There  is  more  hope  for  a  fool  than  for  him. 

Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  in  his  own  eyes,  and 
more  hope  to  a  fool.  Folly  is  obtuse,  but  self-conceit  is  bHnd  and 
unapproachable.      The  folly  is  intellectual.      Elsewhere  (except 

*  Of  the  innumerable  attempts  at  translation  and  emendation  the  following  are 
the  principal :  Grk.:  all  the  Jiesh  of  fools  suffers  7nucli,  for  their  fury  is  crushed; 
Syr.  Targ. :  the  flesh  of  fools  suffers  much,  and  the  drunken  wan  crosses  the  sea; 
Sym.  Theod.  in  second  line  :  and  he  who  shuts  up  [Th.  muzzles']  a  fool  shuts  up 
[Th.  muzzles']  anger  ;  Lat. :  judgment  decides  causes,  and  he  who  imposes  silence  on 
a  fool  mitigates  anger ;  Saadia  (connecting  with  v.9)  :  he  [the  fool]  repels 
[=  wounds]  all  with  it  [with  his  wise  saying],  refus'nig  it  to  the  ignorant  and  the 
bygoers ;  Aben  Ezra:  a  lord  [=  a  ruler]  afflicts  all,  hiring  fools  etc.  [that  is,  to 
make  them  work]  ;  Rashi :  The  Lord  {=  God]  creates  all,  giving  pay  to  fool  and 
passer-by  (cf.  Mt.  ^'^^)  ;  Luth.  Fleisch. :  a  [good)  master  makes  all  right  [=  fashions 
everything],  but  he  ivho  hires  a  bungler  [=  a  fool]  ruins  it ;  Reuss  (cf.  RV.  marg.): 
the  master  does  cverytli'ing  himself,  the  fool  hires  the  first  comer;  Ew.  RV. :  an 
archer  who  wounds  every  ojze  —  and  he  who  hires  fools  and  loungers  [=  bypassers]  ; 
De. :  much  produces  all  [that  is,  he  who  has  much  gains  much],  but  the  fool's  hire 
and  his  hirer  pass  away  ;  Bickell :  (like)  an  archer  who  wounds  all  bypassers  is  he 
who  hires  fools  and  drunkards. 

t  The  first  line  appears  in  2  Pet.  2'-2  as  part  of  a  couplet  different  from  ours, 
which  is  cited  not  as  "  Scripture  "  but  as  a  "  true  proverb  "  ;  it  would  seem  either 
that  the  line,  taken  from  Pr.,  had  been  recombined  in  popular  use  in  the  second 
century  of  our  era,  or  that  Pr.  took  it  from  a  popular  saying.  The  reading  in  Pet 
agrees  with  the  Heb.  and  the  Aram,  of  Pr.,  not  with  the  Grk. 


XXVI.  IO-I7  477 

2(f)  the  fool  is  treated  as  incurable  ;  here  a  possibility  (though  a 
very  small  one)  is  granted  him.  The  point  of  the  proverb  is  the 
denunciation  of  self-conceit.      See  v}^  and  29''°. 

Here  ends  the  Book  of  Fools,  and  is  followed  by  a  Book  of 
Sluggards  (v.'^i«)  ;  cf.  e'^''  2^"^. 

13.  The  sluggard  says :  "  There  is  a  roaring  beast  without, 
A  lion  is  on  the  street." 

14.  The  door  turns  on  its  hinges 
And  the  sluggard  in  his  bed. 

15.  The  sluggard  dips  his  hand  into  the  dish  — 
To  bring  it  to  his  mouth  costs  him  an  effort. 

16.  The  sluggard  is  wiser  in  his  own  conceit 
Than  seven  men  who  can  answer  intelligently. 

13.  Single  sentence  containing  a  parallelism,  quaternary-ternary. 
Without,  lit.  in  the  way,  that  is,  in  the  street.  Roaring  beast,  lit. 
lion,  a  poetic  word  (Hos.  5"  Job  4'°  "A  91''  ^^■)  >  ^^^  this  animal 
Heb.  has  many  names  ;  see  Job  4'°''-  A  variation  of  the  proverb 
is  given  in  22'^  — 14.  Comparison,  ternary-binary.  The  sluggard 
turns  in  his  bed  without  getting  out  of  it.  Cf.  6'-*-^'^  ^f "' "" 
15.  Single  sentence,  quaternary- ternary.  Bring  it,  lit.  bring  tt 
a^ain.  Costs  him  an  effort,  lit.  wearies  him,  --=  he  is  too  lazy  to 
bring  it  etc.  See  note  on  19",  with  which  this  couplet  is  nearly 
idendcal.— 16.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Bis  own  conceit,  as  in 
\}\  Answer  intelligently,  lit.  answer  good  sense,  =  ansiver  dis- 
creetly (RV.  marg.),  not  exactly  render  a  reason  (RV.),  though 
this  is  involved.  —  Seven  is  a  round  number.  —The  proverb  appar- 
ently means  to  say  that  the  sluggard  thinks  himself  wise  in  avoid- 
ing trouble  and  thus  enjoying  life  —  men  about  him  are  toiling, 
but  he  has  repose.  Possibly  the  sage  has  in  mind  some  form  of 
Epicureanism  ;  the  intimation  then  is  that  the  sluggard  is  blind  to 
the  higher  pleasures  of  life.  He  is  put  beneath  the  fool  in  inteUi- 
gence   (cf.  v.*^). 

17.  Meddling  with  other  men's  quarrels. 

He  seizes  a  dog  by  the  ears 

Who  meddles  with  a  quarrel  not  his  own. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.     In  second  line  lit.  :  excites  himself  over, 
=  )akes  part  in,  meddles  with  (Lat.  AV.),  or  this  sense  may  be 


47S  PROVERBS 

got  by  a  simple  change  of  text.  —  At  the  beginning  of  second 
line  or  the  end  of  first  line  the  Heb.  inserts  the  adj.  passing  by, 
whence  the  translations  who,  passing  by,  takes  part  (or,  vexes 
himself,  RV.),  or  seizes  a  passing  dog  etc.  The  first  of  these 
renderings  is  the  more  appropriate  :  it  is  folly  in  a  bypasser  to 
mix  in  a  quarrel,  but  there  is  no  special  propriety  in  designating 
the  dog  as  one  that  happens  to  be  passing  by.  This  is  under- 
stood (De.  Bi.  at.)  to  refer  to  a  strange  dog;  one  may,  it  is 
suggested,  with  impunity  seize  one's  own  dog,  but  not  a  passing 
dog.  But  the  dog  was  not  a  domestic  animal  in  Palestine,  and  to 
seize  any  dog  was  dangerous.  The  adj.  in  question  is  in  any  case 
unnecessary  and  cumbersome,  and  is  probably  a  gloss  or  an  erro- 
neous repetition ;  its  omission  also  improves  the  rhythm. 

18,  19.   Folly  of  deceiving  for  amusement. 

1 8.  Like  a  madman  who  hurls  about 
Deadly  brands  and  arrows 

19.  Is  he  who  deceives  his  neighbor 
And  says  "  I  did  it  in  jest  "  ! 

18.  Single  sentence,  binary-ternary.  In  first  line  the  noun  of  the 
Heb.  text  may  mean  "one  who  is  exhausted"  (Gen.  47^'^),  or 
(Aram.)  "  stupefied  "  ;  neither  of  these  senses  is  here  appropriate. 
A  slight  change  of  text  gives  the  sense  madman  (Jer.  51^),  or, 
ofie  who  plays  the  fool,  feigns  madness  (i  Sam.  21"),  that  is,  the 
jesting  deceiver  is  like  a  man  really  insane,  or,  like  one  who  pre- 
tends to  be  insane ;  the  second  interpretation  agrees  with  they'^j-/ 
of  v.^^,  but  the  first  seems  better  to  convey  the  sense  of  the  qua- 
train. —  The  second  line  is  lit. :  brands,  arrows,  and  death,  the 
last  term  qualifying  the  two  preceding.  — 19.  Single  sentence,  ter- 
nary. In  second  line  lit.  :  was  (or,  ani)  I  not  in  jest?  The 
quatrain  forms  a  comparison. 

20-22.   Malicious  gossip. 

20.  When  there  is  no  wood  the  fire  goes  out, 

And  when  there  is  no  talebearer  strife  will  cease. 

21.  Charcoal  for  embers,  and  wood  for  fire. 
And  a  quarrelsome  man  to  make  strife  hot. 

22.  =  188. 


XXVI.  17-25  479 

20.  Virtual  comparison,  ternary-quaternary.  On  talebearer  see 
i8^ — 21.  Virtual  comparison,  quaternary.  The  rendering^/zar- 
coal  accords  with  the  term  ivood  (that  is,  in  each  member  fuel  is 
mentioned),  but  is  not  certain;  in  the  other  passages  in  which 
the  term  occurs  (Isa.  44^-  54"^)  it  may  mean  burning  coal,  a  sense 
not  here  appropriate.  A  change  of  text  gives  the  reading  bellows 
(Wild.),  which  should  perhaps  be  adopted. 

23-28.   Hypocritical  words, 

23.  Impure  silver  laid  over  a  sherd  — 

Such  is  <  smooth  >  discourse  when  the  heart  is  bad. 

24.  With  his  lips  one  who  hates  dissembles, 
But  in  his  heart  he  nourishes  deceit. 

25.  When  he  speaks  fair  believe  him  not, 
For  seven  abominations  are  in  his  heart. 

26.  One  may  conceal  hatred  by  guile, 

But  his  malice  will  be  revealed  in  the  congregation. 

27.  He  who  digs  a  pit  will  fall  into  it, 

And  he  who  rolls  a  stone,  it  will  come  back  on  him. 

28.  A  false  tongue  4  brings  about  destruction,' 
And  an  insincere  mouth  works  ruin. 

23.  Virtual  comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  Impure  silver,  lit. 
silver  of  dross,  =  the  impure  mass  left  when,  in  the  process  of 
refining,  the  pure  silver  has  been  removed  (RV.  silver  dross, 
=  the  dross  which  contains  silver).*  A  sherd  overlaid  with  this 
mixture  had  a  gloss  which  resembled  that  of  silver,  a  false  exterior 
which  concealed  a  mean  material.  —  In  the  second  hne  the  Heb. 
has  burning  (  =  gloiuing,  fervent)  lips,  which  is  taken  to  mean  fer- 
vent protestations  of  friendship,  but  it  is  hardly  a  natural  expres- 
sion;  the  smooth  {  —  flattering,  specious)  of  the  Grk.  accords  with 
the  first  line   and  with  v.-^^-^*;    on  the  word  see  note  on  5^  — 

24.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Dissembles,  cf.  Gen.  42''  i  K.  14^  In 
his  heart  is  lit.  in  his  inward  part.  Nouiishes,  lit.  puts,  sets  ;  cf., 
for  the  verb.  Job  38'"'  \j/  loi^;  the  rendering  arranges  is  less 
appropriate. — 25.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  With  the  preceding 
this  couplet  may  be  considered  to  form  a  quatrain.     Speaks  fair, 

*  It  is  probable  that  this  dross  was  largely  composed  of  lead  oxide.     See  Raw- 
linson,  Phoen.,  ch.  x.,  and  the  Bible-Diets,  under  silver  and  lead. 


480  PROVERBS 

lit.  7nakes  gracious  his  voice;  cf.  v."^''.  Seven  abominations, 
=  "  countless  wickednesses."  On  abomination  see  note  on  3'1 
—  26.  Single  sentence,  with  one  antithesis,  ternary.  The  Heb. 
reads  :  hatred  may  conceal  itself ;  the  insertion  of  his  before 
hatred  (so  RV.)  gives  a  satisfactory  sense ;  a  different  change  of 
text  gives  the  equivalent  reading  :  one  may  conceal  haired.  One 
or  the  other  of  these  changes  is  required  by  the  following  expres- 
sion his  malice.  —  The  term  congregatioii  (5"  21^'^)  means  any 
assembly.  From  the  time  of  Deuteronomy  on  it  is  generally  used 
(but  not  in  Job  and  Prov.)  to  designate  Israel  assembled  in  a 
theocratic  or  ecclesiastical  capacity  (i  K.  8"  Joel  2^*^  «/.).  In 
the  Persian  and  Greek  periods  the  Jewish  communities  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  acquired  civic  organization,  with  the  right  to 
administer  justice,  and  the  allusion  is  probably  to  this  function  of 
the  congregation.*  —  27.  Two  parallel  sentences,  quaternary  (or, 
ternary) .  Mischief  recoils  on  the  perpetrator  —  a  widely  diffused 
proverb.  The  pit  is  supposed  to  be  dug  with  malicious  motive ; 
Grk.  adds  for  his  neighbor,  an  unnecessary  explanation.  The 
stone  is  apparently  rolled  uphill,  so  that  it  may  descend  and  crush. 
Cf.  lA  7"-i6(i«i')  Eccl.  io«  BS.  272^^  Esth.  9^  Dan.  6--'.  — This  gen- 
eral observation  seems  to  receive  a  special  application  in  the  next 
couplet.  —  28.  Two  parallel  lines,  ternary.  Ruin  is  "  a  blow  that 
causes  a  destructive  (or,  fatal)  fall,"  and  so  the  "ruinous  fall", 
itself.  —  The  form  of  the  Heb.  in  first  line:  a  false  tongue  hates 
its  afflicted  ones  is  improbable,  and  has  called  forth  a  number  of 
forced  interpretations,  some  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  notes  of 
Delitzsch  and  Zockler.  The  rendering  of  RV. :  hateth  those 
whom  it  hath  wounded  (marg.  crushed^  is  incorrect :  the  last 
word  is  a  simple  adj.,  =  oppressed,  unfortunate  {ip  9^'^°'  10^*  74'^)  j 
and  further,  the  tongue  is  said  in  OT.  to  speak  and  to  smite  and 
pierce,  but  never  to  hate  or  to  crush  a  person  (in  25^^  it  is  the 
soft  tongue  that  breaks  the  bone,  a  figurative  expression,  =  "  dis- 
arms opposition  "),  and  the  rendering  ('/v/i'/z  is  not  found  in  any 
Anc.  Version.  The  expression  luorks  ruin  appears  to  require  in 
first  line  some  such  sense  as  deceives  its  possessor  (or,  owner),  or 
brings  (or,  produces')  hate  or  destruction  ;    Fleischer  (assuming  an 

*  On  the  later  Jew.  civil  organization  cf.  Schiirer,  Hist,  of  the  Jew.  People,  \  27. 


XXVI.  25-28  48 1 

hypallage)  :  crushes  those  whotn  it  hates,  but  this  is  hardly  allow- 
able—  it  is  better  to  change  the  text.  —  The  couplet  may  refer  to 
the  ruin  brought  by  the  false  tongue  either  on  others  or  on  its  pos- 
sessor ;  the  latter  interpretation  is  suggested  by  the  sense  of  the 
preceding  couplet ;  the  former  is  the  more  natural  suggestion  of 
the  words. 

XXVI.  2.  K  nS;  Q  iS;  the  authorities  are  given  by  Ginsburg.  The  Anc. 
Vrss.  follow  Kethib.  —  3.  |^  u;  (5  idvn,  =  ^J,  improbable.  On  the  form  of 
11  see  01s.  §  153,  Ew.  §  146  f.,  Stade,  §  184.  —  5.  SM,,  stumbling  at  the  formal 
contradiction  between  v.*  and  v.^,  put  here  imssn  in  place  of  ^  mViN. — 
6.  |§  n^sris;  <5S>  read  ni-po  ((gBo^.  ^5^^  should  be  -KohQiv,  as  in  S^  106  a/.); 
3L  claiuius ;  ^  Nann  he  who  rie/ts,  a  free  rendering  or  guess;  Bi.  nspr,  which 
he  takes  as  =  ai  the  end,  finally,  a  sense  not  supported  by  usage,  and  not  here 
specially  appropriate;  Ew.  nxnc,  perh.  better  than  the  Act.  —  |^  Dcn;  <S  '6vn- 
dos,  =  nan.",  which  is  better.  (5  iroieiTaL;  read  wlerai.  —  nnir  is  perh.  corrup- 
tion of  n'-'y;  we  might  read:  i3N'?3  iVjt  ni'i'ic.  —  7.  |^  v'^;^,  possibly  intended 
for  Aramaizing  Pi.  Impv.  of  n'-^^,  which,  however,  is  here  inappropriate  in 
sense;  Ew.  Stade  v^-"  Qal;  De.  ^i'?-',  but  the  sense  of  verbal  noun,  which  he 
gives  to  this  form,  l/ie  hanging  down,  is  doubtful  (see  01s.  §  186  i>,  Barth.  Sem. 
Nom.-Bildung^ ;  Hitz.  Frank.  t!-^_  (cf.  Isa.  35"),  but  the  expression  the  leaping 
of  the  legs  is  strange  and' improbable.  The  form  of  ^  permits  either  a  noun  or 
a  verb  as  first  word  of  %  but  what  noun  or  verb  is  not  clear  —  the  whole  clause 
is  suspicious.  —  8.  |§  i^i';  better  -\-j^  ((@  0%  d^oSecr/iei^et) ,  parallel  to  inj.  But 
the  whole  line  seems  to  be  corrupt;  possibly  it  should  read:  r]X3  mpi  psD 
i;n.  — 10.  The  meaning  archer  for  3")  is  doubtful.  In  Jer.  50^9  Job  16^^  we  may 
point  33^  (instead  of  ^a"]) ;  in  the  latter  passage  Budde  retains  the  pointing  of 
1^,  but  renders,  by  conjecture,  missiles.  In  Gen.  2i2>  Ball  emends  n^^  to  nc^.  — 
17.  1^  'Kn;  (@  KipKov  tail,  —  Djr  (Jag.).  —  Omit  "la;  as  insertion  out  of  follow- 
ing word  (-(a;;."!):).  .SIL  aiynr,  which  should  be  adopted.  — 18, 19.  pj  ^^"'^■'^'?; 
Frank.  '?'?n"ic.  On  nn*?  in  Gen.  47^^  cf.  Ball  (in  SBOT.)  ;  the  stem  appears  to 
be  Aram,  (not  found  in  Ass.  Arab.),  but  might  occur  in  Prov. — 21.  |^  nnf); 
(5  icrxdpa  hearth;  3L  carbones ;  Bi.  rns.  Inf.  of  ngj;  Wild,  nsp  (Perles, 
Analekt.  p.  90). — On  pj  s^jnc  see  note  on  6^*.  —  23.  |^  a^pSi;  (5  Xeta;  read 
c-pSn  (Jag.).— 24.  ?lj  niu";  (5  ^x^pos,  whence  Bi.  2;s-.  — 26.  |^  hd^p,  Hith.; 
(5  6  KpiiTTcov,  —  rD'j  or  hd:]::  (and  so  ,S3C5L).  Read  (or  inN:r)  nxrf  'c,  or 
i-iNr.:'  nD3P.  —  On  the  form  of  jiNU'p  (from  ntj)  see  01s.  §  215  d.  11. — 
27.  f^  rSx;  (5  e0'  iavrdv;  read  r*?".  —  28.  p?  13T  ityc,  (@  puaei  dX-ndeiau 
(and  so  .S^TIL),  a  guess  from  the  connection,  or  reading  Aram,  not  pure. 
Possibly  in  ';;'i  we  have  K'C'2  (from  ^t'l),  and  for  idt  we  might  read  v'?>'3 
{befools  its  possessor)  ;  NO'  nsjr,  brings  hatred,  is  graphically  easy,  but  "y  does 
not  give  a  full  contrast  with  ^rpr.;  better  (or,  nxr)  na;;;  NO".  —  On  the  omis- 
sion of  the  •■  in  !-•]  (Hahn  vz-C)  see  B-D,  Ginsb.;  it  is  perhaps  a  scribal 
accident,  perhaps  veils  a  different  reading  of  the  text. 
21 


482  PROVERBS 

XXVII.  1,  2.  Of  boasting. 

1.  Boast  not  thyself  of  tomorrow, 

For  thou  knowest  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth. 

2.  Let  another  praise  thee  —  not  thine  own  mouth; 
Some  other  —  not  thine  own  lips. 

1.  Single  sentence,  ternary.*  The  boast  implies  overweening 
sense  of  one's  capacity  and  power.  We  may  omit  day,  reading 
what  it  may  etc.  ;  the  sense  is  the  same.  Cf.  Isa.  56^^  BS.  10-" 
ii'*^  Jas.  4^^^^  —  2.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Another  and 
some  other  are  lit.  stranger  ;  on  these  terms  see  note  on  2^*^. 

3,  4.  Folly  and  jealousy. 

3.  A  stone  is  heavy,  sand  is  weighty. 
But  a  fool  []  is  heavier  than  both. 

4.  Wrath  is  ruthless,  anger  destructive, 
But  before  jealousy  who  can  stand? 

3.  Comparison,  quaternary-  (or,  binary-)  ternary.  lit. :  the 
heaviness  of  a  stone,  and  the  lueightiness  of  sand !  that  is,  these 
things  are  well  known,  but  etc.  —  In  second  line  the  Heb.  has  :  a 
fooPs  anger  is  heavier  etc. ;  but  heavy  is  not  a  proper  epithet  of 
anger  —  it  is  the  fool  himself  that  is  burdensome;  cf.  BS.  22"  ^% 
where  it  is  said  that  a  fool  is  harder  to  bear  than  lead,  sand,  salt, 
or  iron  ;  anger  is  a  gloss,  perh.  suggested  by  the  next  couplet.  — 
On  anger  see  12^^  17-^  21^'-';  in  the  Heb.  it  is  the  effect  of  the 
anger  not  on  the  fool  himself  (Zock.),  but  on  others,  that  is 
meant.  Frank.,  less  well,  regards  the  anger  as  that  excited  in  one 
by  the  folly  of  the  fool.  —  4.  Comparison,  quaternary,  or  binary- 
ternary.  Lit.  :  rnthlessness  of  wrath,  a  flood  of  anger !  The 
flood  is  probably  here  thought  of  as  destructive  ;  cf.  Nah.  i*  Job 
38-'  i/'  32"  Dan.  9"*^  ii".  —  On  jealousy  see  notes  on  6^*  14''"^.  The 
reference  is  to  the  jealousy  of  a  husband ;  cf.  Cant.  8*^  (the 
jealousy  of  married  love). 

5,  6.   Healthy  rebuke. 

5.  Better  is  open  rebuke 
Than  a  love  that  is  hidden. 

*  Each  member  of  this  couplet  is  composed  of  four  Iambi,  but  it  is  evident  from 
the  punctuation  that  the  Heb.  editors  did  not  so  read  it ;  they  divided  it  not  by 
feet,  but  by  ictus. 


XXVII.   1-7  483 

6.    Sincere  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend, 
<  Deceitful  >  the  kisses  of  an  enemy. 

5.  Comparison,  ternary-binary.  Open  (lit.  manifested'),  frank, 
direct,  from  friend  or  foe.  The  love  is  hidden,  invisible,  manifest- 
ing itself  by  no  rebuking  word,  and  therefore  morally  useless  ;  or, 
by  change  of  vowels  :  love  tJiat  conceals,  that  is,  does  not  tell  the 
friend  his  faults.  Frank. :  love  given  tip,  that  is,  the  man,  instead 
of  telling  his  friend  his  fault,  withdraws  his  friendship  without  a 
word ;  but  the  rendering  given  up  is  not  possible.  De. :  "  love 
that  does  not  show  itself  by  helpful  deed  in  time  of  need," 
but  this  gives  no  antithesis.  Cf.  BS.  19^"'"^^  —  The  Heb.  text  is 
not  quite  satisfactory  —  the  antithesis  rebuke  .  .  .  love  is  not 
clear,  and  possibly  /lafe  should  be  substituted  for  loz>e  (cf.  v'')  — 
"hatred  hidden  under  pretence  of  friendship."  —  6.  Antithetic, 
ternary.  The  adj.  of  first  cl.  is  faithful,  trustworthy,  here  =  sin- 
cere. In  second  line  we  expect  a  contrasted  term,  instead  of  which 
our  Heb.  text  gives  a  word  which  is  represented  in  the  Anc.  Vrss. 
by  suppliant,  confused,  fraudulent,  bad,  but  is  generally  interpreted 
by  modern  expositors  as  =  rich,  plentiful,  profuse  (so  RV.),  that 
is,  the  enemy  is  profuse  in  insincere  professions  of  love.  This 
latter  rendering  is  to  be  rejected  as  lexicographically  doubtful, 
and  as  not  furnishing  a  proper  antithesis.  For  the  reading  deceit- 
ful (AV.,  after  Lat.)  a  change  of  text  is  necessary.  —  Yox  faitJiful 
cf.  25'^  Dt.  7^^  Job  1 2-" ;  for  ivounds  cf.  Job  9^^ ;  friend  and  enemy 
are  lit.  lover  and  hater. 


7.  Hunger  is  the  best  sauce. 

One  who  has  enough  refuses  honeycomb; 
To  the  hungry  any  bitter  thing  is  sweet. 

Antithetic,  quaternary.  Lit.  :  the  full  soul  tramples  on  (  =  dis- 
dainfully rejects)  honeycomb,  but  to  the  Jumgry  soul  every  bitter 
thing  is  siveet.  Soul  here  =  the  person,  especially  as  possessing 
appetite.  RV.  loatheth,  =  refects.  There  is  perhaps  an  allusion 
to  praise  and  congratulation,  which  may  be  nauseous  to  him  who 
has  much  of  it,  grateful  to  him  to  whom  it  rarely  comes.  —  Cf. 
the  references  to  honey  in  2c^^^--\ 


484  PROVERBS 

8.  There's  no  place  like  home. 

Like  a  bird  that  wanders  from  her  nest 
Is  a  man  who  wanders  from  his  home. 

Synonymous  comparison,  ternary.  Home  is  lit.  place,  a  general 
term  which  may  signify  either  the  abode  of  the  individual  man 
or  family  (Ju.  7^  i  S.  2^),  Eng.  home,  or  the  land  of  abode, 
Germ,  heimath  (i  S.  i^®).  For  "native  land"  the  Heb.  usu- 
ally says  simply  "  land"  ;  for  Eng.  "  home  "  it  has  only  the  terms 
"  place  "  and  "  house  "  (cf.  Fr.  chez  lui,  Germ,  zu  hause),  but  the 
idea  of  "  home  "  was  doubtless  coeval  with  that  of  "  family."  — 
The  reference  in  the  proverb  appears  to  be  to  any  withdrawal 
from  the  security  and  comfort  of  one's  permanent  dwelling-place 
—  the  wandering  of  a  merchant  or  a  vagrant,  the  enforced  jour- 
neying of  an  exile,  or  the  departure  of  one  who  is  ejected  from  his 
house  by  creditors  or  enemies.*  There  is  probably,  however,  no 
allusion  to  Jewish  national  exile,  or  to  the  absence  of  the  Dis- 
persed Jews  from  Palestine  —  for  that  the  language  is  too  general, 
and  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  were  quite  at  home  in  their 
adopted  countries.  —  The  renderings  a  bird  scared  from  and  a 
man  driven  from  are  not  exact. 

9.  Lit. :  Oil  and  perfume  (or,  incense')  make  the  heart  glad, 
and  the  sweetness  of  his  friend  from  counsel  (or,  sorrow)  of  soul. 
The  first  line  describes  a  physical  pleasure  which  is  presumably 
the  illustration  of  a  spiritual  pleasure  to  be  next  described.  The 
second  line  of  the  Heb.  is  unintelligible  :  the  his  has  no  antece- 
dent, the  expression  "sweetness  of  a  friend"  is  strange  and  doubt- 
ful (cf  16-^),  and  counsel  of  soul,  if  it  be  a  possible  expression, 
means  simply  "counsel  given,"  not  hearty\  (or,  highmindedX) 
counsel,  or  one's  own  counsel.  % — Grk.  (with  different  text)  :  and 
(or,  but)  the  soul  is  rent  by  misfortunes,  which  offers  neither  par- 

*  De.  calls  attention  to  the  pathos  of  the  Germ.  adj.  elend  "  wretched,"  =  eli  lend 
"  foreign  land  "  ;  see  the  citations  in  Grimm's  IVorterbuch. 

t  See  Mich.  De.  Str.  al.  AV.  RV. 

X  Ew. :  but  a  friend's  sweetness  comes  from  counsel  of  soul  (from  a  "  deep,  full 
soul,"  in  contrast  v/\x\\ perfume). 

§  Saad.  Rashi,  Zciclc.  al. :  the  sweetness  (=  agreeable  discourse)  of  a  friend  is 
better  than  one's  own  counsel. 


XXVII.  S-io  485 

allel  nor  contrast  to  first  line  ;  Lat.  (by  inversion)  :  and  the  soul 
is  sweetened  by  the  good  counsels  of  a  friend,  an  appropriate  par- 
allel ;  Kamphausen :  but  sweeter  is  one's  friend  than  fragrant 
woods  (cf.  petfume-boxeSy  Isa.  3-"),  but  the  introduction  of 
another  physical  illustration  is  improbable  ;  Reuss  :  sweet  friend- 
ship (=  "  the  sweetness  of  a  friend  ")  strengthens  the  soul,  a  satis- 
factory reading  but  for  the  phrase  "sweetness  of  a  friend."  Pos- 
sibly :  sweetness  of  speech  (or,  of  counsel)  strengthens  etc. ; 
"sweetness"  is  an  epithet  not  of  persons,  but  of  things  ;  cf.  16-^ 
"A  55"""-— <^''^  (21I7  Am.  6"  Ez.  16^  Cant,  v'  4^")  and  perfume 
(see  the  adj.  in  Cant,  f)  are  cosmetics  and  accompaniments  of 
feasts.     Cf  i/'  104'^  BS.  40^  -^* 

XXVII.  1.  1^  ^'^  is  omitted  by  S,  Bi.;  (g  17  ^TrtoOo-a.  —  2.  The  nS  in  » 
distinguishes  T'd  from  t;  in  i'  the  "^n  makes  -yrzt'  the  subject  of  the  prohibi- 
tion. It  is  a  question  whether  this  difference  is  rhetorical  variation,  or  whether 
the  nS  should  be  written  '?>',  or  the  '^x  be  written  n-.  —  3.  Omit  |§  D^ro  as 
scribal  insertion.  —  5.  |^  nanx  may  have  been  induced  by  the  ans  of  v.^. — 
6.  pj  -im  M.  The  stem  t^",  =  abundance,  is  Aram.,  but  can  hardly  be  Ileb., 
since  the  proper  correspondmg  Heb.  form  TiT,'  exists;  cf.  Smend,  Cornill,  Toy 
(in  SBOT.)  on  Ez.  35!^,  and  <&  in  Jer.  33'^.  But,  even  if  |§  be  accepted  as 
Aramaizing  form,  it  is  here  inappropriate  in  the  only  sense  (^abundant')  pos- 
sible for  it.  The  Vrss.  give  no  helpful  suggestion.  (§  fj  eKoOa-ta,  whence  Bi. 
T\'^'^'iTi  than  the -ivillingness.  Dys. :  n'S",':  dreadful.  But  these  emendations 
do  not  furnish  the  desired  antithesis.  The  form  of  the  couplet  does  not  favor 
the  introduction  of  ^  by  p  (as  in  (5);  as  correspondent  to  D'JCNJ  we  expect 
an  adj.,  possibly  Nif.  Part,  of  c*p;'  (cf.  28'^)  or  of  tc,  =  crooked,  evil,  deceitful. 
■ — 9.  r^"}'^?  is  used  elsewhere  only  of  the  fragrant  vapor  or  incense  of  the 
ritual  service;  but  the  verb  (Pu.  Part.)  —  perfume  in  Cant.  3^,  and  the  noun 
may  have  this  sense  here.  —  (5  o'ivoi'i  is  scribal  addition  for  fulness.  — 1§  |ina 
■in-p;  (5  KarapTTiyvvTai,  =  .Tnii-^r  (Jag.),  which  reading  (accepted  by  Hi.  Bi. 
Frank.)  is  incongruous  with  ».  —  |^  c'dj  nsvc;  Reuss  'j  yow,  good  graphically 
and  in  sense.  Kamp. :  'j  'Sv^,  taking  'j  as  =  fragrance.  Bi.  'j  nsjja  Dy'npnm; 
Frank. :  -j  nbi^D  ';;i.     Possibly  the  line  should  read :  'j  yoND  nsj?  pnm. 

10.  Of  friendship.  —  The  verse  is  composed  of  three  lines 
which,  in  their  present  form,  appear  to  have  no  immediate  con- 
nection one  with  another.  —  10^.  A  friend  of  thyself  and  of  thy 
father  forsake  not  (lit. :  thy  fiend  and  thy  father's  friend  etc.), 
=  "  do  not  abandon  an  old  family  friend   for  new  friends,"  as 

*  For  Grk.  and  Rom.  use  of  cosmetics  see  Beck.  Mommsen  and  Maiquardt, 
Bliimner  (Eng.  tr.  by  Ziinmern). 


486  PROVERBS 

youth  is  often  disposed  to  do.  The  reference  is  not  specially  to 
seeking  aid  from  such  an  one,  but  in  general  to  maintaining 
friendly  relations  with  him.  Only  one  friend  is  spoken  of.  — 
10*'.  Lit. :  And  to  the  house  of  thy  brother  go  not  in  the  day  of  thy 
calamity.  But  to  whom  should  one  go  if  not  to  a  brother?  "  A 
brother,"  it  is  said  (17"),  "is  born  for  adversity."  And  even  if 
there  be  a  friendship  which  is  stronger  than  fraternal  affection 
(18-^),  this  would  be  no  reason  for  ignoring  the  family  tie  —  nor 
is  anything  here  said  of  such  a  stronger  friendship  (see  note  on 
v.^""  below).  It  is  futile  to  suppose  that  the  prohibition  wishes  to 
save  the  brother  distress  (Saadia),  nor  is  the  reference  to  exces- 
sive visiting  (as  in  25"),  and  it  is  impossible  that  the  sage  should 
lay  down  the  general  rule  that  one  should  not  go  to  a  brother  in 
time  of  need  —  such  scepticism  and  cynicism  would  be  out  of 
keeping  with  the  tone  of  the  Book.  The  text  must  be  regarded 
as  defective,  or  the  clause  must  be  taken  as  a  gloss  inserted  by 
some  scribe  whose  experience  had  made  him  bitter  against 
brothers,  as  Koheleth  (Eccl.  7'*)  is  bitter  against  women.  We 
might  omit  the  negative  particle  and  read  :  but  go  to  a  brother's 
house  etc.,  which  would  be  an  isolated  and  unnecessary  injunction, 
unless,  with  Bickell,  the  brother  be  taken  as  =  the  friend  of  the 
preceding  line,  and  this  is  improbable — i f /;'/>;/ ^/ had  been  meant, 
it  would  have  been  so  written.  Cf.  the  warning,  in  25",  against 
wearying  one's  neighbor  with  visits.  — 10°.  Better  is  a  neighbor 
who  is  near  than  a  brother  who  is  far  off.  The  near  and  far 
refer  to  space,  not  to  feehng ;  the  saying  is  a  maxim  of  common 
experience.  But  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  it  is  this  "  far-off 
brother"  who  is  meant  in  the  preceding  line  —  on  the  contrary 
the  "  brother  "  of  the  second  line  is  regarded  as  near.  As  the  text 
stands,  the  third  line  is  an  independent  aphorism,  perhaps  part  of 
a  full  couplet,  of  which  the  rest  has  been  lost.  —  A  connection 
between  the  three  lines  may  once  have  existed ;  but  if  so,  the 
links  have  disappeared.  If  the  second  Hne  be  omitted,  a  couplet 
might  possibly  be  formed  of  the  other  two. 

11-15.   Wisdom,  prudence,  hypocrisy,  strife. 

II.    Be  wise,  my  son,  and  make  my  heart  glad, 
That  I  may  answer  him  who  shall  taunt  me. 


XXVII.  IO-I4  4^7 

12.  =  22^. 

13.  =  20^''. 

14.  When  one  blesses  another  with  a  loud  voice,  [] 
It  is  to  be  reckoned  as  equivalent  to  a  curse. 

15.  A  constant  dripping  in  a  rainy  day 
And  a  quarrelsome  woman  are  alike. 

11.  Single  sentence,  condition  and  consequence,  quaternary-ter- 
nary. The  speaker  is  the  teacher  (whether  the  father  or  some 
other),  who  is  concerned  for  the  young  man's  career,  and  desires 
that  he  may  so  conduct  himself  as  to  furnish  a  triumphant  answer 
to  all  assailants.  Wise  is  to  be  taken  in  the  most  general  sense.  For 
the  verb  taunt  {ox,  reproach)  see  14^'  17^  lA  119*^  (in  the  psalm  the 
answer  is  furnished  by  religious  trust,  in  the  proverb  by  wisdom)  ; 
for  the  noun  see  6'^  18^.  The  taunt  (here  mentioned  as  a  possibility 
of  the  future)  will  have  been  induced  by  some  real  or  supposed  mis- 
conduct or  display  of  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  youth.  The 
teacher  is  held  responsible  for  the  faults  of  the  pupil.  Cf.  22^^  23^^ 
BS.  30^"^.  — 13.  The  text  in  second  line  has  fem.  sing,  a  strange 
woman,  which  is  to  be  emended,  from  the  parallelism,  to  masc. 
sing,  (or,  plu.)  ;  the  reference  is  simply  to  going  security  for  other 
persons.  — 14.  Condition  and  consequence,  quaternary-ternary. 
Heb.  :  he  who  blesses  his  neighbor  (or,  friend)  with  a  loud  voice 
early  in  the  morning  {or,  in  the  morning,  rising  early),  a  curse  it  is 
(or,  zvill  be)  7-eckoned  to  him.  The  expression  early  in  the  morning 
refers  not  to  the  dawn  of  good  luck  (this  is  not  warranted  by  Heb. 
usage  of  language)  but  to  the  zeal  of  the  blesser  (Jer.  7''')  ;  the 
him  may  be  either  the  blesser  (he  shall  be  considered  to  have 
uttered  a  curse)  or  the  blessed  (he  shall  be  considered  to  have 
been  cursed).  It  may  be  man  or  God  who  reckons.  In  the 
former  case  the  proverb  is  a  rebuke  of  hypocritical  loud-mouthed 
adulation,  which  public  opinion  will  regard  as  concealing  willing- 
ness to  ruin  its  object,  if  profit  is  to  be  thereby  gained.  In  the 
latter  case  the  ineaning  is  that  a  loud-mouthed  blessing  will  excite 
the  anger  of  the  deity,  and  call  down  a  curse  on  the  person 
blessed  ;  in  this  interpretation  the  early  is  commonly  held  to 
mean  "before  the  issue  of  the  man's  good  fortune  is  known"  — 
the  deity  is  offended  by  this  premature  assumption.  On  divine 
jealousy  of  human  pretensions  cf.  note  on  6^'  ;    elsewhere  in  OT. 


488  PROVERBS 

except  in  early  mythical  narrative  (Gen.  ii^'),  it  is  directed 
against  Israel's  enemies,  or  against  wickedness,  not  against  mere 
good  fortune.  It  seems  better,  therefore,  to  adopt  the  first  inter- 
pretation mentioned  above.  —  The  early  in  the  morning  is  unnec- 
essary, mars  the  rhythmical  symmetry,  and  is  probably  to  be 
omitted  as  gloss.  On  curse  see  note  on  26^,  and  cf.  20™.  — 
15.  Comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  The  couplet  is  substantially 
identical  with  second  line  of  19''^,  on  which  see  note.  —  Grk.  :  drops 
drive  a  inan  on  a  wintry  day  out  of  the  house,  so  a  railing  woinan 
also  [drives  him]  out  of  his  oivn  house.  Our  Heb.  may  in  fact  be 
translated  :  dripping  drives  on  a  rainy  dav,  out  of  which  the  Grk. 
expands  its  line.  Syr.  better  :  a  drop  which  drops  ( =  continues  to 
drop).  Lat. :  leaking  roofs  i?i  a  cold  day,  in  which  roofs  is  free 
translation,  and  cold  follows  Grk.  wintry,  a  sense  less  probable 
than  rainy.  The  roof,  made  of  board,  with  a  layer  of  earth  and 
straw,  was  kept  from  leaking  only  by  constant  repairs.* 

16.  Lit. :  He  who  hides  her  hides  wind,  and  oil  meets  his  7-ight 
hand  (or,  Ids  right  hand  calls  for  [or,  meets']  oil),  which  conveys 
no  sense.  Lat.  he  who  j-estrains  her  is  as  one  who  restrains 
the  wind\  connects  the  couplet  with  the  preceding,  the  sense 
being  supposed  to  be  that  he  who  undertakes  to  restrain  the 
woman  of  v.'^  (whom  Rashi  regards  as  unchaste)  might  as  well 
try  to  hold  the  wind  or  slippery  oil  (or,  according  to  Rashi,  he 
uses  oil  to  get  rid  of  the  taint  of  her  presence).  But  the  verb 
does  not  mean  I'estrain,  and  the  interpretation  is  obscure,  unnat- 
ural, and  improbable.  Grk. :  the  north  wind  is  a  severe  wind,  but 
by  its  name  is  termed  auspicious.  %  Bickell :  the  north  wind  [it  is 
true]  is  the  cheerfulest  of  7vi}ids,  but  the  [hot  and  oppressive] 
southwind  is  called  "  auspicious."  But,  whatever  the  Grk.  trans- 
lator might  attempt,  one  hardly  expects  such  subtle  etymologizing 
from  the  Heb.  sage.  §  No  satisfactory  construction  of  the  couplet 
has  been  suggested.     Cf.  25"-^  26^ 

*  On  Pal.  roofs  see  Thomson,  Land  and  Book,  ch.  25;  Now.,  Arch.;  cf.  Mk.  2*. 

t  So  Saad.  Rashi,  Luth.  Ew.  De.  Kamp.  RV.  al.,  but  not  AV. 

J  The  Heb.  word  for  hide  may  a\s,o  =  north  ;  \h&  right  hand  represents  good 
fortune  in  Grk.  Lat.  Aram.  Arab.,  though  apparently  not  in  Bibl.  Heb. ;  its  name 
comes  from  a  slight  change  in  the  word  for  oil. 

§  For  other  impossible  readings  see  De.  Wild. 


xxvii.  14-17  489 

12.  Before  -tiDj  insert  \ —  13.  ^  "ii  37'";  (5  napijXdev  .  .  .  v^pi<TTT]s,  =  ~>2'; 
II  (Jag.).  —  1^  n^-\T];  read  n^j;  the  n  is  insertion  induced  by  following  n,  or 
else  the  incorrect  interpretation  of  a  scribe.  —  14.  pj  ^'P'^'lI  ""P^^;  <S  '''^  irpwl 
may  include  both  words.  —  |^  i"?  is  to  be  retained.  — 15.  Lag.  regards  |^  n^l 
and  T-nD  as  unintelligible,  and  thinks  the  sense  continual  for  inb  "very 
funny. '  But  the  signification  drop  for  iSi  (which  is  perh.  Aram.)  seems 
assured  by  Job  16-*  1/'  119-8  Eccl.  10^^  (cf.  note  on  19^^)  and  by  Aram,  and 
Arab,  usage.- — The  origin  of  the  &t.  \ey.  -\^-\)D  is  doubtful;  (5  x«'Mfp"'5 
(=  i.'D?);  %  f rigor  is ;  ^li,  -i)D.  The  stem  td  in  Heb.  and  Aram.  =  ^/zw/", 
enclose ;  in  Arab,  it  =  Jill,  whence  the  noun  =  a  filling  rain  (see  the  authori- 
ties in  Lane).  Or,  our  noun  may  be  from  a  secondary  5-stem,  formed  on  u 
=  ^o  (used  in  Ass.  of  the  running  of  water);  cf.  Levy,  Nil  IV.  The  connec- 
tion, with  the  support  of  the  Ass.  or  Arab.,  may  justify  the  rendering  rain.  — 
The  stem  11:^:  =  drive  in  Aram,  and  Ass.  ((§  here  eK^dWovaiv) ;  for  the 
intransitive  sense  cf.  Arab,  iitj,  =  l/ial  which  folloivs  on,  a  successor.  —  On 
|§  3-jn;;  see  note  on  6^*.  — 1§  nni^i  is  regarded  by  some  (Qamhi,  Miklol, 
131  a)  as  Nithpael  (cf.  Dt.  21^  Ez.  23*8),  with  omission  of  Dagesh  and  trans- 
position of  n  and  .:•,  by  others  (01s.  §  275  Stade,  §  410*^,  A  Ges.'^'',  §  75  .:<: 
Hi.  De.  Str.  «/.)  as  Nifal.  As  the  form  stands,  it  may  be  regarded  as  masc. 
(from  iir),  or  as  fem.,  with  metathesis  of  1  and  n  (Bottch.  Kon.  i.  591  f.);  it 
is  better,  with  01s.  Stade,  to  read  fem.  nnirj  (see  Str.'s  note).  — 16.  De., 
for  " :  nn  |0i  |in  ijds,  =  he  who  lays  tip  riches  etc.  Bi.,  for  the  couplet : 
N-ip''  noD''  TDm  (=  ^■^^)  'm  pns  n^jbs.     Wild.:    nn  nis  n^ibx,  and  perhaps 

:T:-  -Tt'T":^  '  \  --T-:  '-TT-;  *  * 

N-t^";  HMn^  TPif'')  =  <^«^  oil  l^^^  soiithwind  is  called,  or  the  oil  of  the  south  is 
named  (=  is  famous^.    These  are  all  desperate  expedients. 

17-20.   Influence,  fidelity,  sympathy,  greed. 

17.  As  iron  sharpens  iron, 
So  man  sharpens  man. 

18.  He  who  tends  a  figtree  will  eat  its  fruit, 

And  he  who  has  due  regard  to  his  master  will  be  honored. 

19.  As  []  face  answers  to  face, 

So  men's  minds  one  to  another. 

20.  Sheol  and  Abaddon  are  never  satisfied, 
And  the  eyes  of  man  are  never  satisfied. 

17.  Comparison,  ternary.  Lit.  :  Iron  sharpens  iron  (or,  iron  is 
sharpeiied  by  i}'on),  and  a  man  sharpens  the  face  of  his  friend, 
=  "  friendly  social  intercourse  develops  character."  Face  (if  the 
word  be  retained  in  the  text)  =  person,  as  in  18^  —  the  whole 
man.  Friend  =  neighbor  =  any  associate.  Ew. :  iron  together 
with  iron,  and  one  together  with  the  face  of  another,  that  is,  as 
iron  attracts  iron  (a  fact  known  as  early  as  Homer),  so  should 


490  PROVERBS 

men  stand  and  work  together  —  a  good  sentiment,  but  an  unnat- 
ural translation.  Reuss,  not  so  well :  is  polished.  —  18.  Compari- 
son, quaternary-ternary.  The  reward  of  faithful  devotion  to  one's 
master  as  to  one's  work.  The  proverb  is  addressed  to  servants, 
and  contemplates  only  the  human  master ;  cf.  Eph.  6^  Has  due 
regard  to  is  lit.  observes,  ^=^  gives  heed  to  (Hos.  4^°).  —  Grk.  he 
who  plants  a  figtree  offers  no  advantage  over  the  Heb.  — 
19.  Comparison,  ternary.  Heb.  :  as  water  face  to  face,  so  the 
heart  (=  mind)  of  man  to  man  (breviloquence  for  so  the  heart  of 
man  to  the  heart  of  man),  or,  the  heart  man  to  man.  The  first 
line  in  the  Heb.  yields  no  sense,  and  the  text  has  been  variously 
changed.  Those  who  read  as  in  water  etc.,*  or,  as  water  shows 
face  etc.  so  the  heart  shows  man  etc.  (RV.  marg.),  take  the  refer- 
ence to  be  to  the  reflection  of  the  face  in  water,  and  understand 
the  couplet  to  state  the  psychological  identity  and  mutual  sympa- 
thy of  men,  or  the  supposed  fact  that  every  man  sees  only  his  own 
nature  (pride,  for  ex.)  in  other  men,  or  sees  himself  reflected  in 
other  hearts.  The  as  water  is,  however,  probably  error  of  text 
for  as,  and  the  expression  as  face  to  face  may  signify  either  simi- 
larity t  or  diversity  %  :  men's  faces  and  minds  are  like  or  unlike. 
The  latter  sense  is  favored  by  the  fact  that  what  most  strikes  the 
attention  in  men's  faces  is  their  unlikeness,  and  the  proverb  may 
=  "many  men  of  many  minds";  but  the  wording  of  the  text 
rather  suggests  the  former  sense,  and  this  interpretation  is  per- 
haps supported  by  v.^'.  —  20.  Comparison,  ternary.  Cf.  30^^. 
On  Sheol  and  Abaddon  see  note  on  15".  The  former  is  the  ordi- 
nary name  of  the  Underworld,  the  latter  is  a  poetical  synonym ; 
the  combination  of  the  two  is  rhetorical  fulness.  As,  says  the 
proverb,  generations  of  men  forever  troop  down  to  the  land  of 
Shades,  which  yet  is  never  filled,  so  men's  desires  are  never  satis- 
fied. On  the  eye  as  the  symbol  of  desire  see  Eccl.  2'°  4*,  and  cf. 
Eccl.  I*.  In  the  connection  the  reference  cannot  be  to  the  wish 
to  see  new  sights.  —  The  Grk.  adds  the  couplet :  he  who  fixes  his 
eyes  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord ;  and  the  toiinstrncted  do  not 
restraifi  their  tongues  ;  cf.  i6'^*'  21-^.  The  couplet  is  possibly  a  part 
of  the  original  Heb.  text,  more  probably  a  scribal  addition. 

*  De.  Str.  Wild.  RV.  al.  t  So  most  expositors.  J  So  Grk.  Frank. 


XXVII.  17-22  491 

21.  Public  opinion  as  test  of  character. 

The  crucible  for  silver  and  the  furnace  for  gold, 

And  a  man  (is  to  be  estimated)  according  to  his  reputation. 

Comparison,  quaternary-ternary.  The  second  line  is  lit.  :  and  a 
man  according  to  his  praise,  probably  the  praise  he  receives  from 
others.  The  proverb  will  thus  state  the  half-truth  :  "  public  opin- 
ion is  generally  right  "  (another  side  is  given  in  Mt.  5")  —  it  tests 
a  man  as  fire  tests  metals.  Less  probable  are  the  renderings  : 
according  to  that  zvhich  he  praises,  and  that  071  which  he  prides 
hi?nse/f  ( —  what  he  regards  as  his  praise,  that  is,  as  his  title  to 
praise)  —  these  fail  to  bring  out  distinctly  the  notion  of  test  con- 
tained in  first  line.  Fleischer  :  a  vian  is  (a  test)  to  him  who 
praises  him  ;  but  obviously  the  couplet  means  to  apply  the  test  to 
the  man  himself.  —  In  1 7^  it  is  Yahweh  who  is  the  tester  ;  here  it 
is  man.  Section  IV.  has  less  of  the  religious  tone  than  II. — 
On  methods  of  refining  see  notes  on  17^  26-''.  —  The  Grk.  adds  : 
The  heart  of  the  transgressor  seeks  evil,  but  the  i/pright  heart  seeks 
knoivledge  —  a  sentiment  which  has  many  parallels  in  the  Book, 
and  may  belong  to  the  original  text,  or  to  some  similar  collection. 

22.  Folly  ineradicable. 

Though  thou  bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar,  [] 
Thou'lt  not  <  get  >  his  folly  out  of  him. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.  The  Heb.  reads  :  his  folly  will  not 
depaj't  from  him;  the  causative  form  thou  wilt  not  remove  (so 
Grk.)  suits  the  first  line  better.  —  The  proverb  is  a  picturesque 
and  forcible  way  of  saying  that  a  fool's  folly  is  his  nature ;  the 
folly  is  intellectual,  not  moral.  —  At  the  end  of  first  Hne  the  Heb. 
adds:  /;/  the  midst  of  grit  (or,  bruised  corn,  or,  pounded  graiti) 
7vith  a  pestle,  which  mars  the  symmetry  of  the  couplet  by  unnec- 
essary additions  :  the  "  pestle  "  goes  as  a  matter  of  course  with 
the  mortar,  and  the  "grit"  is  out  of  place  —  it  is  the  fool  alone 
that  is  pounded.  The  phrase  appears  to  be  a  gloss.  —  Vat.  Grk. : 
though  thou  scoujge  a  fool,  disgracing  him  in  the  council  etc. 
One  Grk.  text  represents  the  process  as  beating  the  fool  up  in  a 
mass  of  preserved  fruit  (figs,  olives,  or  grapes).* 

*  On  the  word  rendered  mortar  see  Moore,  yudges  (on  Ju.  15^^),  and  G.  A. 
Smith,  The  Book  of  the  Twelve  Prophets  (on  Zeph.  iioj. 


492  PROVERBS 

17.  Omit  \JD.  —  On  m^  cf.  K6n.  i.  373  f. ;  the  stem  is  probably  -nn  (Job  i^), 
and  the  first  '  may  be  Hof.  (Ez.  21I*)  or  Hif.,  the  second  Hilil.  If  the  first 
be  read  Hif.,  the  Prep.  2  should  be  omitted.  — 19.  ^  3'?^;  ®  oja-irep;  read 
'^120  with  Vog.  Bi.;  Bottch.  De. :  a^cj  "ir.xD.  —  (g  oiix  Sfj.oLa,  which  Bottch. 
explains  as  =  a^t-\  pxr,  misreading  of  3''Ca  -\-»N3;  or,  the  negative  particle 
may  be  interpretation  of  the  translator.  'HL  follows  S,  except  that  it  inserts 
the  □•'D  of  1^  — 22.  |§  c'.i37;  (@  fj.aim'yo'is.  —  On  the  stem  see  Ges.  Thes. 
BDB.;  cf.  Heb.  Aram,  and  Arab.  nno.  The  stem  jto  seems  to  be  used  of 
any  pounding  or  pressing  of  hard  or  soft  substances.  It  is  perhaps  Aram.; 
cf.  D.  H.  Miiller,  Sendsch.  58.  — 1§  ■''^■.•3  ^^s-\p  '^^r^  ;:'  noa;  (5  kv  ix^atf  crvve- 
dpiov  drt/ixdfwj',  after  which  Bi.  omits  'op,  makes  '>'t  the  beginning  of  ^,  and 
also  with  (5,  omits  V^"'r ;  aTi/jid^oov  he  refers  to  some  form  of  '?"',•.  N.  Herz 
(cited  by  Cheyne)  makes  ffvv.  =  man  a  company  or  society  (Job  34^)  ;  Cheyne 
prefers  man,  and  renders  the  Heb. :  .  .  .  a  fool  amidst  his  associates  (or,  equals 
in  rank,  cf.  '/'45''),  you  would  not  remove  etc.  See  Expos.  Times  for  May, 
June,  July,  1897.  It  seems  better  to  retain  'j^'j  ^"d  omit  the  three  next  words 
of  1^;  (@  may  have  omitted  '3T  from  its  similarity  to  following  '\\~i.  —  On 
nonn  see  Hi.  (who  makes  the  stem  p^),  Ges.  The  word  occurs  elsewhere  in 
OT.  only  in  2  S.  17^^;  'AS  Trno-dvas;  0  TraXd^as;  "^  ptisanas  {barley-groats)  ; 
in  2  S.  17^^  (5  a.pa(j)d}9.  The  form  of  the  stem  is  uncertain;  perhaps  -id^,  ^n 
or  HDT;   cf.  Job  26'!,  and  Arab.  Aram.  ^s~^,  strike,  break. 

23-27.   Importance  of  small  and  large  cattle  for  the  farmer. 

23.  Look  well  to  the  appearance  of  thy  flock. 
Give  careful  attention  to  <  thy  >  herds, 

24.  For  riches  last  not  forever, 
Nor  <  wealth  >  to  all  generations. 

25.  When  the  hay  is  removed,  and  the  aftergrowth  appears. 
And  the  grass  of  the  mountains  is  gathered, 

26.  Then  the  lambs  will  supply  thee  with  clothing, 
And  goats  furnish  the  price  of  a  field, 

27.  And  there  will  be  goat's  milk  enough  for  thy  food,  [] 
And  (enough)  for  the  maintenance  of  thy  maidens. 

The  poem  is  a  short  treatise  on  the  culture  of  animals,  and  gives 
us  a  glimpse  into  the  life  of  the  rural  population  of  Palestine. 
The  soil  of  Israelitish  Palestine  was  better  adapted  to  the  raising 
of  sheep  and  oxen  than  to  the  production  of  grain,  and  the  writer 
points  out  that  it  is  to  the  former  that  the  country  landowner 
must  look  as  his  chief  source  of  wealth.  The  introduction  of  this 
subject  is  in  accordance  with  the  practical  aim  of  the  Jewish 
gnomic  writings.     Cf.  the  works  and  remarks  on  agriculture  by 


XXVII.  21-26 


493 


Aristotle,  Theophrastus,  Cato,  Varro,  Virgil,  and  others,  and  the 
extracts  in  the  Geoponica. 

23.  Synonymous,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  Look  well, 
lit.  k?iow  (emphatic).  Appearance,  lit.  /ace,  =  state  or  condition 
(RV.).  Flock,  of  sheep  and  goats.  Give  careful  attention  to,  lit. 
set  thy  mind  on.  The  Heb.  has  simply  herds  (that  is,  of  cattle 
or  of  sheep  and  goats)  ;  the  insertion  of  thy  (so  Grk.  and  Lat.) 
is  favored  by  the  parallelism.  The  context  (v.-*^-')  shows  that 
the  writer  has  in  mind  sheep  and  goats,  not  large  cattle ;  so 
Nabal  (i  S.  25-- ^•^)  has  sheep  and  goats.  Oxen,  however,  were 
owned  in  the  south  of  Canaan  (Isa.  7-^  Dt.  8^^),  though  the 
country  seems  to  have  been  better  adapted  to  small  cattle.  See 
7-'-^  14^  15^'  for  mention  of  oxen.  —  24.  Synonymous,  ternary. 
Exhortation  to  continual  effort,  which  is  necessary  because  one's 
stores  are  constantly  being  consumed  —  if  one  would  transmit 
wealth,  one  must  be  all  the  time  amassing  it ;  the  ivealth  is  then 
that  of  rural  products,  especially  sheep  and  oxen.  Or,  the  wealth 
referred  to  may  be  non-agricultural,  ready  money  and  the  like, 
and  the  meaning  will  then  be  that  flocks  and  herds  are  the  only 
solid  and  permanent  riches ;  in  that  case  we  must  think  of  the 
writer  as  unfriendly  to  urban  and  commercial  life.  —  In  second 
line  the  Heb.  has  crown  as  the  term  corresponding  to  riches  ;  this 
is  explained  as  =  "  princely  dignity,"  but  the  expression  is  inap- 
propriate to  the  condition  of  such  a  person  as  is  here  described  ; 
a  slight  change  of  letters  gives  the  parallel  wealth  (cf.  Jer.  20"). 
—  25.  Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  :  the  grass  is 
removed  and  etc.  The  connection  indicates  that  this  verse  gives 
the  protasis  or  condition  of  a  conditional  sentence,  of  which  the 
apodosis  or  result  is  expressed  in  the  following  verses.*  The 
grass  is  removed  to  the  barn  in  the  form  of  hay  as  food  for  the 
animals.  After  it  is  stored  appears  the  second  growth  of  grass 
(RV.  tetider  grass),  the  aftergi'owth.  This  is  the  growth  of  the 
lower  lands,  but  the  high  lands  {mountains)  furnished  admirable 
pastures  (i  Sam.  25-),  from  which  also,  it  appears,  the  grass  (the 
term  including  all  herbage)  was  gathered.  The  haying  began  in 
Nisan    (March-April).  —  26.    Synonymous,    binary-ternary    (the 


*  So  Saad.  Rashi,  Fleisch.  De.  Sir.  Wild.  Frank,  al. 


494  PROVERBS 

first  member  is  perhaps  defective).  Provision  thus  laid  up,  the 
flock  will  be  well  nourished  and  profitable  ;  animals  may  be  sold, 
and  will  thus  furnish  money  to  buy  clothing  or  a  field.  Probably 
also  in  first  line  there  is  reference  to  the  making  of  clothing  at 
home  from  wool  (cf.  Job  31^")  ;  the  clothing  of  the  household 
for  the  year  was  doubtless  prepared  at  this  time.  —  27.  Parallel 
statements,  ternary-binary  (according  to  the  emended  text). 
Goafs  milk  here  appears  as  a  common  article  of  food.  In  the 
enumeration  of  foods  in  Dt.  32^^",  besides  cereals,  honey,  oil, 
flesh,  and  wine,  we  find  curd  (=  sour  milk)  of  kine  and  milk  of 
small  cattle  (sheep  and  goats).  Meat  was  rarely  eaten;  the 
staples  of  food  were  bread,  honey,  fruits,  and  the  products  of  the 
dairy.*  —  The  second  line  is  lit. :  and  maintenance  (lit.  life')  for 
thy  maidens,  but  the  Prep,  {for)  is  probably  to  be  continued.  — 
After  for  thy  food  the  Heb.  adds  :  for  the  food  of  thy  household, 
thus  giving  three  terms  after  enough,  of  which  Syr.  omits  the  third, 
and  Grk.  the  second  ;  these  two  are  really  synonymous,  and  it  is 
better  to  omit  the  second,  which  seems  to  be  a  gloss  (explanation 
of  the  third). t 

23.  |§  \J£3;  (S  \pvxa.s,  perhaps  =  z'd:,  perhaps  (Jag.)  =  ijd  in  sense  of 
person.  —  |^  am-;;  read,  with  (§,  ^m;-.  — 24.  |^  irp;  read  nxx  (cf.  Jer.  20^). 
— 1§  DN1  may  be  retained,  or  we  may  read  N^i  ((§  ovdi).  —  Before  second  "n 
insert  ^  (Qere).  —  27.  Omit  |§  qro  cn^*^  (as  gloss)  with  <3,  whose  depa- 
irbvTuv  represents  |§  nn;;j  (Jag.)  rather  than  n>2.  —  The  first  f'wiyi'  of  (g 
appears  to  be  assimilation  of  the  Heb.  expression  (on*^)  to  the  following 
phrase,  in  which  fiwr;j'  =  i'«n  (|i^  d^m). 

XXVIII.  1.   The  courage  of  a  good  conscience. 

The  wicked  flee  when  no  one  pursues, 
But  the  righteous  are  as  bold  as  a  lion. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  ^^A/=  confident,  secure  (11^^  31"  Ju.  18"). 
A  bad  conscience  suspects  accusers  everywhere. 

*  Cf.  the  standing  expression  in  OT. :  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  (Ex. 
333  Ez.  206  a/.)  ;  cf.  also  Eurip.,  Bacch.,  142  ;  Ovid,  Alei.  i,  iii.  For  modern  cus- 
toms in  Arabia  and  Palestine  see  Robinson,  Bib.  Res.,  i.  571  al. ;  Palmer,  Desert  0/ 
the  Exodus,  p.  239  al.  ;  Thomson,  Land  and  Book,  I.  xxii  al. 

t  With  this  paragraph  cf.  those  passages  of  the  Avesta  (as  Fargard  3)  in  which 
similar  prominence  is  given  to  the  culture  of  cattle. 


XXVII.  26-XXVIII.  3  495 

2.   The  first  cl.  reads  :  By  the  transgression  of  a  land  many  are 
its  princes,  that  is,  unstable  government  (a  rapid  succession  of 
rulers)  is  a  result  of  social  corruption.      Rapid  change  of  rulers 
may,  however,  be  an  accident  of  the  political  situation.     Possibly 
we  should  read  :  by  etc.  many  are  its  enemies  (or,  misfortunes).— 
The  second  line  is  lit. :    but  by  intelligent  {and)  instructed  men 
right  lasts  long,  or,  by  men  intelligent  {and)  cognizant  of  right  it 
(the  existing  status)  lasts  long;    the  second  translation  (in  which 
the  verb  is  taken  as  indefinite)  is  not  probable.      To  understand 
right  (in  the  first  transl.)  as  =  "jurisdiction,  political  authority" 
(De.)  is  a  somewhat  forced  interpretation.      Still  less  natural  is 
RV.'s  rendering,  state  (=  existing  status),  from  the  sense  "place, 
basis,"  which  the  Heb.  word  sometimes  has.      Instead  of  men  we 
may  write  man  (De.),  the  meaning  then  being  that  by  a  single 
intelligent  man  political  order  will  be  maintained.  — Grk.,  with  dif- 
ferent text :    by  the  sin  of  ungodly  men  disputes  arise,  but  a  clever 
man  will  extinguish  them,  which  is  intelligible,  but  disputes  are 
said  in  Pr.  to  arise  from  the  nature  of  the  wicked,  not  from  their 
sin  — the  disputes  are  themselves  sin.— If  the  expression  knozuing 
right  be  omitted  (as  gloss  on  intelligent),  we  may  read  :  by  a  man 
(or,  by  men)  of  insight  it  [the  land]  is  made  stable  (=  is  estab- 
lished) (cf.  29*)  ;  or,  ii  days  be  inserted  :  by  a  man  of  intelligence 
its  existence  is  prolonged.  ^Th^  text  puts  "intelligence"  as  antith- 
esis of  "transgression";    this  may  be  understood  in  accordance 
with  the  point  of  view  of  Pr.,  which  makes  moral  error  the  result 
of  ignorance.  — The  general  sense  of  the  couplet  appears  to  be 
that^l•loral  ignorance  and  transgression  is  responsible  for  political 
distress  or  disorder  (so  the  Heb.),  or,  perh.,  that  quarrels  and  law- 
suits are  the  work  of  bad  men  (so  the  Grk.),  and  that  order,  or 
peace,  is  maintained  by  a  broad  intelhgence  which  recognizes  the 
claims  of  the  moral  law.      It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  two 
lines  of  the  couplet  do  not  belong  together. 

3.   Oppression  of  the  poor. 

A  <■  wicked  ruler  >  who  oppresses  the  poor 
Is  a  beating  rain  which  leaves  no  food. 

Virtual   comparison,   ternary  or  quaternary-ternary.      The   Heb. 
reads  :   a  poor  man  and  an  oppressor  of  the  poor,  a  beating  rain 


496  PROVERBS 

and  710  bread,  that  is,  a  poor  man  who  oppresses  etc.  is  etc.  But 
in  Pr.  (or  in  OT.)  a  poor  man  is  not  conceived  of  as  an  oppressor 
of  the  poor,  is  not  thought  of  as  being  in  position  to  oppress ;  nor 
does  it  add  to  the  distress  of  the  poor  that  their  oppressor  is  one 
of  their  own  class.  —  Grlc.  :  a  bold  (or,  courageous)  man  by  wick- 
edness oppresses  (or,  accuses)  the  poor,  whence  we  might  read  :  a 
wicked  man  who  oppresses  etc.  By  the  change  of  a  vowel  the 
sense  is  obtained  :  a  ruler  (lit.  a  man,  a  chief)  wJio  etc.,*  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  this  is  an  allowable  Heb.  construction.f  The 
reading  here  adopted,  which  is  suggested  by  v.^%  is  obtained  by  a 
couple  of  simple  changes  of  the  text. 

4.   Attitude  of  faithful  and  faithless  toward  the  wicked. 

Those  who  forsake  the  law  praise  the  wicked, 

But  those  who  observe  the  law  are  zealous  against  them. 

Antithetic,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  The  special  interpreta- 
tion of  the  couplet  depends  on  the  meaning  given  to  the  word 
law.  If  this  means  the  "  law  of  Yahweh,"  the  national  code,  then 
the  reference  is  probably  not  only  to  the  general  fact  therein 
announced,  but  particularly  to  the  condition  of  things  in  the 
Greek  period  when  many  Jews  did  give  up  the  national  religion 
and  attach  themselves  to  foreign  rulers  and  magnates,  who  are 
often  in  the  Psalms  referred  to  as  the  "wicked,"  and  Reuss  is  sub- 
stantially right  in  translating  :  the  apostates  praise  the  heathen.  If 
this  be  the  correct  interpretation,  the  couplet  forms  the  only  refer- 
ence in  Prov.  to  such  apostasy  (cf.  \p  up'''  WS.  2-5).  —  li law  be 
taken  to  be  the  instruction  of  the  wise  (3^  4"  7-  28'-^)  the  couplet 
will  mean  that  he  who  refuses  this  instruction  does  thus  in  effect 
endorse  the  wicked,  while  he  who  gives  heed  to  it  will  in  effect 
oppose  them.  This  precise  form  of  expression  is  not  elsewhere 
employed  by  the  sages  in  speaking  of  their  own  instruction,  but 
the  idea  is  found  throughout  the  Book,  particularly  in  chs.  1-9. — 
The  sense  "law  in  general"  does  not  accord  with  the  wexh forsake, 
which  impHes  a  body  of  instruction  with  which  the  man  stands  in 

*  Hitz.  De.  Bi.  Str.  Wild.  al. 

t  It  occurs  elsewhere  only  in  the  title  chief  priest  (2  K.  25I8  al.)  ;    in  Ez.  38^  the 
construction  is  different,  Rosh  being  a  proper  name. 


XXVIII.  3-6  497 

special  relation ;  for  the  general  idea  of  law  the  appropriate  verb 
would  be  "  transgress."  The  second  interpretation  seems  to  be 
the  more  probable.  —  The  interpretation:  they  who  praise  the 
wicked  forsake  the  law  (De.)  is  not  a  natural  rendering  of  the 
Hebrew. 

5.  Piety  comprehends  justice. 

Wicked  men  do  not  understand  justice, 

But  they  who  seek  Yahweh  understand  it  completely. 

Antithetic,  ternary-quaternary.  To  "seek  Yahweh"  is  to  inquire 
of  him  in  order  to  learn  his  will  in  any  given  case.  It  was  the 
technical  expression  for  inquiry  at  an  oracle  (2  S.  21^  al.),  and  so 
came  to  signify  dependence  on  and  devotion  to  the  will  of  God. 

—  Understand  it  completely  is  lit.  understand  all,  the  reference 
being  io  justice  (in  dealings  with  men).  It  is  only,  says  the  prov- 
erb, from  the  divine  will  (here  =  the  divine  law)  ih^X  Justice  (here 
=  right  in  general)  can  be  known.  —  The  couplet  has  a  national 
tone  rare  in  Proverbs. 

XXVIII.  1.  ?^  •'Dj  with  sing,  noun,  and  D'lpns  with  sing,  verb;  O,  sing., 
^ei^7ei  and  biKaios.  —  2.  For  |^  nn".;'  we  should  perhaps  read  nni*  or  n-rns 
(cf.  Dt.  31^'').  (§^  read  DV^n  and  D3-i;  (gi",  for  pj  T'IN-'  jd  yn;,  KOLTacr^icrei 
avrds,  =  iD>ni  (Lag.).  The  reading  of  '^  is  not  probable;  that  of  •'  is  better, 
but  not  satisfactory.  — Bi.  omits  "^ns'i  (as  repetition  out  of  the  two  preceding 
words),  and  for  ]2  yTi  reads  ipyT,.  Dys. :  an  nx  i>m\  We  may  perh.  read : 
npjjn  pn  mN3i  or  mcyi  'd  mxi.  —  3.  |^  ch  135;  (5  dvdpeios  4v  acre^eiais; 
read  yi'T  131,  and  omit  the  1  before  pr>';  Dys.  rp  i3i;  Frank,  yzn  133. — 
J^  orh  |\si;    (5  Kai  a.vw((>e\-qs,  on  which  see  Lag. 

6.  Honest  poverty  better  than  dishonest  wealth. 

Better  is  a  poor  man  whose  life  is  upright 

Than  one  whose  conduct  is  base,  though  he  be  rich. 

Antithetic  comparison,  ternary.  A  variation  of  19^  on  which  see 
note.     Lit.  who  walks  in  his  perfectncss  and  07ie  crooked  of  ways. 

—  The  Heb.  has  the  dual,  two  ways,  which  is  commonly  inter- 
preted as  referring  to  the  good  way  and  the  bad  way,  between 
which  the  man  has  to  choose  ;  but  this  representation  (appropri- 
ate in  BS.  2'^)  is  here  inappropriate  —  the  expression  crooked  iti 
ways  is  a  common  one  for  "dishonest,  base"  ;  a  change  of  vowels 
gives  the  plu.     Cf.  v.'**  below. 

2K 


498  PROVERBS 

7.  Profligacy  is  unwise. 

He  who  obeys  instruction  is  a  wise  son, 

He  who  consorts  with  profligates  brings  disgrace  on  his  father. 

Implicit  antithesis,  ternary-quaternary.  Cf.  lo^  13^  17^^  1^13.26 
23*"  2  7^\  Obeys,  lit.  keeps,  observes.  The  instruction  meant  is 
that  of  the  father  and  teacher,  not  the  national  law  (cf.  v.'*-'). 
Wise  is  lit.  intelligent.  On  profligates  ( =  spendthrifts,  rioters) 
see  23^°- *^  The  text  assumes  that  he  who  heeds  instruction  will 
not  associate  with  profligates,  and  that  a  wise  son  brings  joy  to 
his  father.  The  first  line  may  also  be  translated  :  a  wise  son 
obeys  instruction  ;  the  antithesis  of  wise  will  then  be  profligate. 
The  two  lines  belong  perhaps  to  different  couplets. 

8.  Against  demanding  interest  on  loans. 

He  who  adds  to  his  wealth  by  taking  interest  and  increase 
Gathers  it  for  him  who  is  kind  to  the  poor. 

Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  In  the  OT.  legislation  the 
taking  of  interest  is  regarded  as  oppressive  and  is  strictly  prohib- 
ited between  IsraeUtes  (Ex.  2  2-^'2-*>  Dt.  23^3(20)  l^^^  25^^,  cf.  Ez. 
18*  \^  15^))  though  allowed  in  transactions  with  foreigners  (Dt. 
2  220(21)^  *  ;  the  law  was,  however,  frequently  violated  (Ez.  22^^^ 
Neh.  5^").  Later,  when  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  forced  them 
into  commercial  life,  its  provisions  were  made  more  stringent 
(^Bab.  Mes.  v.).  —  The  objection  to  charging  interest  was  based 
on  the  fact  that  loans  were  made  to  poor  men  to  supply  the 
necessaries  of  hfe,  not  to  be  employed  productively ;  to  demand 
interest  was  to  take  advantage  of  a  fellowman's  distress,  the  antith- 
esis being  kindness  to  the  poor.-\  The  OT.  rule  was  thus  ethically 
good,  except  in  so  far  as  it  excluded  foreigners  from  its  benefit. 
The  punishment  of  the  interest-taker  here  announced  is  loss  of 

*  This  interpretation  of  Dt.  23^0  is  denied,  but  on  insufficient  grounds,  by  Rab- 
binowicz  in  the  Introd.  to  his  transl.  of  Baba  Afesla  {Legist,  civ.  du  Thalmud,  Vol.  3). 

t  Charging  interest  was  from  early  times  common  in  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome, 
and  evidently  in  Israel  also ;  it  was  a  natural  condition  of  lending  money  and  other 
property.  In  Greece  and  Rome  it  was  regulated  by  law.  The  opposition  to  it 
came  from  the  moralists  (as  Plato,  Arist.,  Demosthenes),  not  from  the  people,  and 
no  prohibition  of  it  (in  Israel,  for  example)  was  effective.  See  Wilkinson,  A?ic. 
Egypt.;  Erman,  Egypt;  Smith,  Diet,  of  Grk.  and  Rom.  Antiq.^ 


XXVIII.  7-IO  499 

wealth,  which  comes  through  social  laws  and  divine  retribution  ; 
the  wealth,  by  these  same  laws,  falls  to  the  benevolent  man  (14''' 
19^^  22'^).  Cf.  BS.  3^--^*'.  Whether  there  was  any  difference  of 
meaning  between  the  terms  interest  and  increase  is  not  clear,* 
RV.  retains  the  word  usury  in  its  old  sense  of  interest. 

9.  The  prayer  of  a  bad  man  is  futile. 

He  who  refuses  to  listen  to  instruction, 
His  prayer  is  an  abomination. 

Single  sentence,  quaternary-binary  (or,  binary).  Cf.  15*-"  Isa. 
i^^  BS.  35^^'^^.  Lit.  he  who  turns  aside  his  ear  from  hearing:  the 
reference  is  to  the  instruction  of  the  teacher  or  parent.  On  abom- 
ination see  note  on  3^^.  —  In  second  line  the  Heb.  has  :  also  (or, 
even^  his  prayer  etc.  \  the  "  prayer  "  is,  doubtless,  merely  a  peti- 
tion for  some  physical  gift,  and  the  also  probably  =  "  on  the 
other  hand,"  the  couplet  expressing  an  antithesis,  or  a  relation  of 
reciprocity  :  "  if  a  man,  on  his  part,  is  deaf  to  instruction,  then 
God,  on  his  part,  is  deaf  to  prayer."     Cf.  ./^  182-26126.27). 

10.  Malice  rebounds  on  itself. 

He  who  seduces  the  upright  to  evil 
Will  fall  into  his  own  pit.     [] 

Single  sentence,  ternary-binary  (in  the  emended  text).  Lit.  into 
an  evil  way,  that  is,  probably  (as  in  8^'^)  into  morally  bad  con- 
duct. The  OT.  assumes  that  good  men  may  go  astray  (Ez.  3^"  al.). 
For  second  line  cf.  26-^  —  The  first  line  is  sometimes  rendered: 
he  who  misleads  the  Jipright  into  misfortune ;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether,  if  leading  into  unwise  investments  and  the  like  were 
meant,  the  statement  would  be  restricted  to  the  upright  (cf.  BS. 
37^).  Elsewhere  (5-^  19^  20^  Job  6-^  ^  119^°  al.)  the  verb  seduce, 
lead  astray,  is  used  in  a  moral  sense.  —  The  Heb.  adds  :  And  the 
perfect  will  inherit  (or,  possess)  good,  which  may  be  a  gloss  on 
this  couplet  (a  reminiscence  of  such  passages  as  2-^  i/'  ^ 7^- ^- "■  ^2.  ^9^  ^ 

*  A  distinction  is  perh.  made  in  Lev.  253',  interest  referring  to  loans  of  money, 
increase  to  loans  of  food,  but  the  variation  of  terms  may  be  merely  rhetorical.  In 
Dt.  2319(20)  the  former  appears  to  be  used  as  a  general  term  for  interest,  and  the 
latter  is  so  employed  in  Bab.  Mes.  v.  i.  Cf.  Fleisch.  in  De.,  Wild.  Litt.  des  A  T, 
J  7,  Now.  Arch.,  \  66. 


500  PROVERBS 

to  bring  out  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  or  perhaps  the  half  of  a 
new  couplet,  of  which  the  other  line  has  disappeared. 

11.  A  self -conceited  ricli  man. 

A  rich  man  may  think  himself  wise, 

But  an  intelligent  poor  man  will  probe  him  thoroughly. 

Single  sentence  involving  antithesis,  ternary.  Lit.  :  a  rich  man 
may  be  (or,  is)  wise  in  his  own  eyes ;  probe  thoroughly  =  search 
out.  Rich  men,  the  proverb  holds,  being  financially  successful, 
are  inclined  to  have  great  confidence  in  themselves  (cf.  i8"),  but 
wisdom  does  not  always  go  with  wealth.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
sage  takes  a  defensive  attitude  for  the  poor  against  the  rich  — 
doubtless  from  the  conviction  that  the  former  need  help  (cf.  Eccl. 

12.  Contrasted  administrations  of  righteous  and  wicked. — 

The  text  is  uncertain.  Heb.  :  when  the  righteous  rejoice,  great  is 
the  glory,  but  when  the  wicked  arise,  men  are  sought  out  (or, 
searched).  Antithetic.  Rejoice  is  explained  as  =  triumph,  equiv- 
alent to  arise,  that  is,  '•'  come  into  power,"  and  are  sought  out  as 
=  7mist  be  sought  out,  =  hide  themsehes,  or,  «;•<?  pluudej-ed  (with 
reference  to  Ob.  6,  in  which,  however,  the  text  appears  to  be 
defective).  These  interpretations  are  strained;  in  the  sense 
search  (=  examine)  the  last  verb  of  the  couplet  is  not  elsewhere 
in  OT.  followed  by  a  noun  meaning  a  person.  The  couplet 
should  probably  be  emended  so  as  to  read  somewhat  as  follows : 
when  the  righteous  are  exalted  there  is  great  co7ijidence,  but  when 
the  wicked  come  into  p07ver  men  hide  thetnselves,  that  is,  when  good 
men  control  a  city  or  state,  there  is  prosperity  —  when  bad  men 
are  in  power,  the  people  suffer.  Cf.  for  exalted  \p  47^*^°^  gf,  and 
for  coiifidence  Job  4^. 

6.  I^du.  D''3-n;  point  as  plu.  —  12.  ^l^X^'i'^;  read,  perh.  r^rnp.  —  |^  ""^x^i 
is  possibly  for  mn-.  —  For  |^  U'^n''  we  may  read  i~r'  (v.^^)  which  is  graphically 
not  impossible.  Dys. :  lu'ri''  or  a*^^';  Perles  and  Frank,  suggest  Ten  iretndle, 
—  In  *  Bi.  omits  nan  on  rhythmic  grounds. 

13.  True  repentance. 

He  who  conceals  his  transgressions  will  not  prosper, 

But  he  who  confesses  and  forsakes  them  will  obtain  mercy. 


XXVIII.  IO-I6  50I 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Conceals  is  lit.  covers,  =  refuses  to  confess. 
The  co7ifession  is  made  to  God  and  the  mercy  is  accorded  by  him. 
Cf.  Hos.  14-"*  Isa.  i'*^^*  Job  ^x^'^-  ij/  32'\  Forgiveness  is  here  made 
to  depend  not  on  sacrifice,  but  on  purely  ethical  conduct.  Con- 
fession is  assumed  to  be  a  necessary  accompaniment  of  repentance. 
Kindness  to  a  repentant  sinner  is  enjoined  in  BS.  8'. 

14.  Fear  of  sin. 

Happy  is  the  man  who  fears  always, 

But  he  who  hardens  his  heart  will  fall  into  misfortune. 

Antithetic,  quaternary  (or,  ternary).  Fears  —  not  reverences  (3^ 
24^^),  but  is  afraid  of,  in  dread  of  (3-'*  Job  3"').  The  object  of 
the  verb  is  here  probably  not  "  God,"  but  "  sin  "  considered  as 
involving  "  punishment "  :  one  who  fears  that  he  may  transgress  a 
divine  command  is  said  to  be  happy  because  he  is  on  his  guard, 
and  will  thus  escape  punishment. — Hardens  his  heart  (that  is, 
his  mind,  himself),  braces  himself  in  his  own  doings,  does  not 
dread  sin.  The  misfortune  (contrasted  with  happy)  is  sent  by 
God,  but  is  probably  thought  of  as  produced  by  natural  agencies. 
The  point  presented  is  not  directly  fear  of  moral  impurity,  but 
dread  of  its  physical  consequences. 

15.  The  oppressive  ruler. 

A  roaring  lion  and  a  ranging  bear  — 
Such  is  a  wicked  ruler  over  a  poor  people. 

Comparison,  ternary,  or  quaternary-ternary.  Cf.  v.^  Roaring 
Hon,  cf.  19^"  Jud.  14'^  Zeph.  3''  Ez.  22-^  Job  4^"  xp  22'^'''".  Bear,  cf. 
17^^  2  K.  2^^  Am.  5'^  Isa.  59".  The  lion  and  the  bear  occur 
together  in  i  S.  i  f^.  —  Ranging  is  roaming  in  pursuit  of  prey  (cf. 
Joel  2^),  or  the  word  vi\?>.y  —  greedy  (cf.  Isa.  29**  \\i  \of);  we 
should  perhaps  read  robbed  of  her  whelps,  as  in  i  f-.  —  The  refer- 
ence in  a  poor  people  may  be  to  any  financially  poor  community, 
or  there  may  be  special  allusion  to  the  later  Jewish  communities. 

16.  Folly  of  oppression.  —  Lit.:  A  prince  (or,  O  prince) 
devoid  of  understanding  and  a  great  oppressor — he  who  hates 
unrighteous  gain  tvill  prolong  his  days.  The  first  line  may  also  be 
read  :    a  prince  etc.  is  a  great  oppressor,  but  the  natural   form 


502  PROVERBS 

would  be  :  a  prince  who  is  an  oppressor  is  devoid  of  intelligence. 
The  word  prince  should  probably  be  omitted  as  the  gloss  of  a 
scribe  who  interpreted  this  couplet  by  the  preceding.  We  should 
probably  read  :  he  who  is  oppressive  is  lacking  in  intelligence,  he 
who  hates  unjust  gaiii  will  live  long.  The  live  long,  =  "be  happy," 
forms  an  implicit  contrast  to  lacking  in  intelligence,  —  "  knows  not 
what  is  good  for  him." 

17.  Lit. :  A  man  oppressed  by  the  blood  of  a  person  flees  (or, 
must  flee)  to  a  (or,  the)  pit — let  them  not  seize  him  (or,  support 
or  maintain  him).  The  words  yield  no  sense.  The  term 
oppressed  cannot  mean  conscience-stricken  (De.) — elsewhere  in 
OT.  it  always  refers  to  external  acts ;  nor  is  it  a  natural  expres- 
sion for  "weighted  with  guilt."  The  pit  is  not  the  grave  (De. 
Frank.)  —  a  man  cannot  be  said  to  "  flee  to  the  grave."  The 
criminal  referred  to  is  hardly  the  grinding,  destructive  oppressor 
of  the  poor  (Frank.,  see  note  on  i")  — if  such  an  one  should  be 
"  fleeing  to  the  grave "  it  would  be  quite  unnecessary  to  forbid 
men  to  help  him.  Possibly  there  is  some  reference  to  the  lex 
talionis :  "  if  a  man  charged  with  homicide  flee  to  a  city,  let  no 
one  seize  (or,  protect)  him."  The  sentence  (which  is  prose) 
perh.  belonged  in  a  lawbook,  and  was  here  inserted  by  mistake. 

18.  Profit  in  integrity. 

He  who  lives  blamelessly  will  be  kept  in  safety, 
But  a  man  of  vicious  life  will  fall  []. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (in  the  text  as  emended).  Lit.  he  ivho  zvalks, 
and  one  crooked  of  ivays.  The  second  line  reads  in  the  Heb. : 
but  one  crooked  {^=  false,  evil)  in  two  ways  will  fall  in  07ie.  The 
dual  two  ways  is  improbable  (see  note  on  v.^  above),  but  if  it  be 
retained,  the  statement  that  a  man  doubly  false  is  sure  to  fall  in 
one  way  or  another  seems  an  unnatural  and  improbable  mode  of 
expression.  The  sense  at  once,  suddenly,  for  the  word  above  ren- 
dered /;/  one  is  doubtful,  and  here  not  appropriate.  Lagarde 
emends  :  into  a  pit.  This  is  possible,  but  it  is  better  to  omit  the 
word,  and'  thus  gain  the  simple  and  sufficient  contrast  of  be  kept 
iji  safety  (lit.  be  rescued)  and  fall ;  the  in  one  (of  the  ways) 
appears  to  be  a  gloss  on  the  tiuo  ways  of  the  Heb.  text.  —  The 


XXVIII.   I6-2I  503 

reward  and  punishment  are  to  be  referred  to  God.  On  blame- 
lessly, lit.  blameless,  perfect,  see  notes  on  i'-  2-',  and  on  vicious  (or, 
evil'),  =  crooked,  see  2^^. 

15.  1^  21;  (5  \vKo%,  apparently  =  Aram,  an  or  ^Nt.  For  J^  ppu'we  should 
perh.  read  Vi'^r.  — 16.  Omit  J£J  -i^jj  (as  gloss)  and  the  1  before  1^,  and  insert 
1  before  <AVi'  (Q).  tjj  in  sense  of  prince  only  here  in  Pr. ;  cf.  Job  31-^^ 
Dan.  925.26  ii22_  Yoz  |§  jni  Dys.  reads  3n\  —  '^  nijnn;  (@  irpoabbuiv, 
=  PNnn  (Trom.);  Lag.  cites  Suet.,  C^/ijf.  38.  — 17.'  For  the  expression  ai 
•il'DJ  cf.  Jer.  2^*.  —  JIJ  TO  n;-;  (g  6  e'^'yvthixevo's,  =  m';?  (Lag.).  —  fjj  ^n;  (@3L 
render  as  if  it  were  n*?.  —  pj  pt--:  and  no;  possibly  to  be  read  lob'  and  -\-;. 
— 18.  |§  du.  ao-n;  read  plu.  —  pj  '"'HNJ;  (g  efxirXaK-qcreTai,  to  which  254. 
297  add  et's  /ca/cd;  Sb  Ni'CiJ3,  =  mnto  (Vogel),  cf.  v.'".  Lag.  (and  so  Dys.  Bi.) 
reads  .inco.     The  word  is  better  omitted  as  gloss  suggested  by  v.^'^. 

19-22.   Industry,  integrity,  greed, 

19.  He  who  tills  his  land  will  have  plenty  of  bread, 

And  he  who  follows  vain  pursuits  will  have  plenty  of  poverty. 

20.  A  trustworthy  man  will  be  richly  blessed, 

But  he  who  hastes  to  be  rich  will  not  go  unpunished. 

21.  To  have  respect  of  persons  is  not  good  — 
For  a  piece  of  bread  a  man  may  sin. 

22.  An  avaricious  man  hastens  to  be  rich. 
Not  knowing  that  want  will  befall  him. 

19.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Variation  of  12",  on  which  see  note; 
the   antithesis    {bread    .    .    .    poverty')    is   here    more   direct.  — 

20.  Antithetic,  binary  (or,  ternary).  7/7/ j/w^r//z)' =  faithful  to 
commercial  and  other  obligations.  Lit. :  will  be  great  in  blessings; 
the  blessings  are  the  products  (and  so  the  rewards)  of  honest 
labor,  as  in  Gen.  49-^  Mai.  3^",  or,  gifts,  as  in  Ju.  i'*,  the  giver, 
however,  being  God.  —  The  hastes,  it  is  assumed,  involves  dis- 
honest procedures ;  the  man,  in  that  case,  will  not  be  unpunished, 
or  will  not  be  (or,  be  held)  free  from  guilt  (cf.  6"^  11*^  16'^  17' 
19'^^).  The  former  sense  gives  a  direct  contrast  to  i\\e  blessed ; 
possibly,  however,  the  meaning  is  :  "  a  man  who  is  in  a  hurry  to 
become  rich  will  fall  into  dishonest  practices  and  thus  incur  guilt " 
(see  I  Tim.  6^).  —  Cf.  BS.  31'^**.  —  21.  Synonymous,  binary.  On 
first  line  see  notes  on  first  line  of  18"'  and  second  line  of  2^-^. 
The  couplet  refers  to  corruption  in  courts  of  law  —  a  man  may  be 
tempted  (or,  many  a  man  is  tempted)  even  by  a  small  bribe  {a 


504  PROVERBS 

piece  of  bread,  cf.  6^'').  —  22.  Single  sentence  involving  antithesis, 
ternary.  An  avaricious  mati,  lit.  one  evil  of  eye,  one  whose  look 
is  unsympathetic,  self-seeking ;  the  expression  occurs  in  OT.  only 
here  and  23^  (on  which  see  note),  the  opposite,  good  of  eye 
(=  kindly  benevolent),  in  22^  The  man  stints  himself  and 
others ;  but  his  parsimony  is  an  economic  mistake,  and  leads  to 
poverty.  There  may  also  be  the  suggestion  (as  in  v.^")  that  greed 
leads  to  or  involves  sin,  and  will  be  punished.  —  Not  knowing,  cf. 
7^ ;  the  expression  may  also  here  =  not  considering,  hardly  with- 
out his  knoiving  (=  unawares). 

23.  Reproof  vs.  flattery. 

He  who  reproves  []  will  find  more  favor 
Than  he  who  flatters  with  the  tongue. 

Single  sentence,  ternary-binary.  An  assertion  that  men's  good 
sense  will  prefer  honest  reproof  to  flattery;  cf.  15^"^^  25^^  27^-^  29^ 
—  Lit.  :  he  who  reproves  a  tnan,  after  which  the  Heb.  has  after 
me.  This  latter,  if  it  here  mean  anything,  can  mean  only  "in 
accordance  with  my  instructions,"  a  strange  and  improbable  direc- 
tion for  the  sage  to  give.*  The  translation  :  a  man  going  back- 
wa?-d  (De.),  is  out  of  the  question.  Better,  by  change  of  text: 
will  aftenvard  find,  that  is,  though  flattery  at  first  be  sweet,  one 
will  in  the  end  be  grateful  for  honest  rebuke. f  But  the  sense 
"  afterward  "  is  involved  in  the  declaration,  and  the  word  is  prob- 
ably a  gloss.  Bickell,  improbably  :  than  he  who  fiatteis  with  the 
tongue  after  him,  that  is,  servilely  follows  him  with  flattery. 

24.  On  robbing  parents. 

He  who  despoils  father  or  mother 
(Saying :  "  there  is  no  wrong  in  it  ") 
Is  companion  to  him  who  is  a  destroyer. 

Triplet  (if  the  second  line  be  original),  single  sentence,  ternary- 
binary-ternary.  Despoils  =  robs  (22-^)  ;  destroyer,  that  is,  of  prop- 
erty (cf.  6^^  11''  iS^),  or,  of  the  family  life  —  probably,  from  the 
connection,  not  murderer.      The  proverb  appears  to  be  aimed  at 

*  Aben  Ezra,  Mich. :  after  fny  [Solomon's]  example  and  precepts. 
t  Lat.  Rashi,  RV.  Reuss,  Kanip.  Wild.  Frank. 


XXVIII.  22-26  505 

attempts  (legal  or  other)  by  children  to  get  control  of  the  prop- 
erty of  parents,  and  thus  diminish  their  resources  (cf.  Mk.  7"-^-). 
For  ordinary  theft,  or  for  simple  unkindness,  no  such  form  of 
condemnation  would  have  been  used.  The  practice  in  question 
was  evidently  not  uncommon,  and  (as  appears  from  second  line) 
was  sometimes  defended  as  morally  proper,  probably  on  the  ground 
that  the  family  was  a  unit,  that  what  belonged  to  the  parents  be- 
longed legally  to  the  children.  The  OT.  legislation,  in  fact,  con- 
tains no  provision  bearing  on  this  point ;  the  declaration  of  the 
proverb  is  based  on  general  ethical  grounds.  The  second  line 
states  in  a  natural  way  the  defence  offered  by  the  son ;  yet  the 
very  naturalness  of  it  suggests  that  it  is  a  gloss.  To  the  people  of 
the  time  the  couplet  would  be  complete  and  intelligible  without  it, 
but  such  an  explanation  would  easily  occur  to  an  editor.  —  The 
couplet  is  sometimes  understood  to  refer  to  the  case  of  a  son  who 
is  master  in  the  house  and  is  bound  to  support  his  parents,  but 
withholds  their  proper  maintenance.  This  interpretation  hardly 
credits  the  verb  despoil  with  its  full  force  ;  nor  does  it  appear  how 
a  son  could  be  master  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father.  —  Cf.  Pers., 
Sat.  6  ;  Juv.,  Sat,  14. 

25,  26.   On  trust  in  self  and  trust  in  God. 

25.  A  greedy  man  stirs  up  strife, 

But  he  who  trusts  in  Yahweh  will  prosper. 

26.  He  who  trusts  in  himself  is  a  fool, 

But  he  who  walks  in  wisdom  will  be  saved  (from  harm). 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Greedy  is  lit.  large  (lit.  7t>ide)  of  appetite  (lit. 
soul^  ;  cf.  Isa.  5^*  Hab.  2^*  —  Prosper,  lit.  be  made  fat;  see  11^' 
13*  15^°-  —  To  "trust  in  one's  self"  (one's  heart,  intellect)  is 
(according  to  the  parallelism)  to  follow  the  untrained  suggestions 
of  the  mind  (passion,  selfishness,  dishonesty),  or,  to  rely  wholly 
on  one's  own  mental  resources,  opposed  to  which  is  living  in 
accordance  with  the  instruction  of  ethical  wisdom.  —  Will  be 
saved,   that  is,  in  any  emergency  where   true  insight  into  life  is 

*  On  the  similar  phrase  wide  of  heart,  =  proud,  see  note  on  21"*.  De.'s  state- 
ment that  nefesh  (soul)  =  the  "natural  heart,"  and  led  (heart)  =  the  "spiritual 
heart,"  is  without  support  in  OT. 


5o6  PROVERBS 

required.  —  The  lines  appear  to  be  dislocated  :  v.^'^"-  ^^^  form  a  nat- 
ural couplet ;  v.-^''-'^''  have  lost  their  correspondents. 

27.  Kindness  to  the  poor. 

He  who  gives  to  the  poor  will  not  lack, 

But  he  who  disregards  them  will  have  many  a  curse. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Similar  exhortations  to  liberahty  and  kind- 
ness are  found  in  ii-^-^s  1421  jg^'  22^  BS.  4*  f-  2(f ;  cf.  t,^^^-^,— 
Disregards,  lit.  hides  his  eyes,  so  as  not  to  see  distress.  —  The 
curse  is  uttered  by  the  poor ;  cf.  BS.  4^  in  which  it  is  said  that 
such  curse  will  be  heard  by  God.     Cf.  note  on  26". 

28.  Wicked  government. 

When  the  wicked  are  in  power  men  hide  themselves, 
And  when  they  perish  the  righteous  increase. 

Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Are  in  poiver  is  ht. 
rise.  Increase,  that  is,  in  numbers,  being  free  from  oppression. 
See  note  on  v.^-  above.  The  reference  is  to  political  administra- 
tion in  the  City  and  the  State,  perhaps  especially  to  the  later  for- 
tunes of  the  Jews.  Cf.  notes  on  11^"  29--^®.  —  The  interpretation 
of  increase  as  =  become  mighty  is  hardly  allowable  (in  29-  the  text 
must  be  changed),  and  its  emendation  to  rule  is  not  appropriate  ; 
cf.  29". 

20.  In  explanation  of  (S  Lag.  refers  to  I  I'^i  19^-8.  —  21.  ?l?  a^j^;  (^^"■^■■Kpba- 
uira  diKalui',  and  Saitl.  S^  had  apparently  tt.  d8iK0}v,  whence  Bi.  reads  ■'jo 
a"V-\;  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  insertion  is  interpretation,  after 
18^;  cf.  Dt.  i^^.  —  22.  Bi.  omits  ft^  'd,  but  his  rendering:  /le  knows  not  — 
want  conies,  is  doubtful.  —  23.  |^  ''!)ns!;  (@  65oi>s  perh.  =  imx3  (Lag.),  a  some- 
what unnatural  locution;  Kamp.  Wild,  inx;  Frank,  suggests  that  pj  may  be 
an  Aramaic  form,  =  inx.  The  word  is  better  omitted  as  gloss  or  dittogram.  — 
24.  If  we  omit  "^  >rfl  |''N  lat*^  then  following  Nin  is,  on  rhythmical  grounds, 
better  omitted.  Bi.  makes  a  couplet  of  the  v.,  omitting  iDN'i  as  dittogram, 
and  writing  ^:  j'tr'o  px  ipsi  pjn  Su  —  a  division  rhythmically  and  syntactically 
good,  if  ■>  be  retained. 

XXIX.  1-3.   Peril  of  persistence  in  sin.    Value  of  probity. 

1.  He  who,  being  often  reproved,  persists  in  wrong-doing 
Will  suddenly  be  destroyed,  and  that  without  remedy. 

2.  When  the  righteous  <  rule,'  the  people  rejoice, 
When  the  wicked  govern,  the  people  groan. 


XXVIII.  26-XXIX.  5  507 

3.    A  man  who  loves  wisdom  rejoices  his  father, 

He  who  keeps  company  with  harlots  wastes  his  substance. 

1.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  Lit. :  a  man  of  reproofs  who  har- 
dens (or,  stiffens)  his  neck  tuill  suddenly  be  broken  to  pieces  etc.  ; 
cf.  6^'  13'^  15^".  Stiffening  the  neck,  in  obstinate  persistence,  is 
the  opposite  of  bending  the  neck,  in  token  of  submission. — The 
term  suddenly  may  refer  to  the  law  of  divine  intervention ;  more 
probably  it  signifies  that  the  man,  secure  in  his  obstinacy,  does 
not  foresee  misfortune.  The  reproof  comes  from  human  teachers 
and  judges.  —  2.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary). 
The  Heb.  has  :  ivhen  the  righteous  increase,  the  suggestion  being 
that  they  then  have  control  of  affairs  (so  Saad.  RV.  marg.)  ;  the 
change  of  a  letter  gives  the  reading  rule,  which  is  required  by  the 
govern  of  second  line.  Cf.  n^o"  28^--^*.  —  3.  Antithetic,  quater- 
nary-ternary. On  first  line  cf.  10^  23^^-'*  27";  on  second  line  cf. 
5^"'.  Licentiousness  is  put  as  the  opposite  of  wisdom,  as  in  2^"^^ 
^1-3  ^23. 24  gi.  w — Yxi  second  line  the  predicate  wastes  etc.  (instead 
of  the  precise  antithesis  grieves  his  father)  states  that  which 
causes  the  father  sorrow. 

4,  5.   Royal  administration.     Malicious  cajolery. 

4.  A  king  by  justice  gives  stability  to  a  land, 
But  he  whose  exactions  are  excessive  ruins  it. 

5.  A  man  who  cajoles  his  neighbor 
Spreads  a  net  for  his  steps. 

4.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary-ternary).  Gives  stability, 
lit.  establishes  {^causes  to  stand)  ;  stability  involves  prosperity.  In 
second  line  lit.  a  man  of  exactions ;  cf  a  man  of  reproofs  in  v.^  — 
Everywhere  else  in  OT.  the  word  here  rendered  exactions  denotes 
ritual  offerings  (2  S.  i^^  Isa.  40^"),  which  in  the  Israelitish  law  were 
of  the  nature  of  imposts  or  taxes  (Dt.  12®  Ex.  25^  Ez.  44^°  45^^^^ 
Lev.  7"  Nu.  5^  Mai.  3^'')  ;  here  the  term  is  employed  in  the  non- 
ritual  sense.  The  royal  exactions  might  be  legal  taxes  or  demands 
for  "  voluntary  "  gifts ;  probably  all  sorts  of  demands  for  money 
are  meant.     Cf.  v.".*  —  5.    Single  sentence,  ternary.     Cf.  2^®  'f 

*  On  the  method  of  collecting  taxes  in  Egypt  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
B.C.  see  the  great  Greek  papyrus  discovered  by  Petrie,  and  published  by  Grenfell 
and  Mahaffy  (cf.  Recent  Research  in  Bible -Lands). 


508  PROVERBS 

26"**  28^1  His  neighbor  —  any  person.  The  word  flatter  in  first 
line  (RV.)  does  not  exactly  represent  the  Heb.  term,  which  sug- 
gests guile  and  seduction. 

6.  Security  and  happiness  of  probity.  —  Antithetic,  ternary. 
Heb.  :  /;/  the  transgression  of  a  bad  man  is  a  snare,  but  the  good 
man  is  joyful  and  glad.  In  first  line  the  Syr.  has  the  simpler 
form  :  the  bad  ma?i  is  snared  in  (or,  by)  his  sin.  The  implica- 
tion is  that  the  righteous  has  no  fear  of  snares,  and  may  therefore 
be  lighthearted ;  the  text  does  not  warrant  the  interpretation  that 
he  rejoices  because  the  sinner  has  fallen  into  the  snare  and  been 
destroyed.  —  A  more  satisfactory  form  is  perh.  given  by  reading 
path  for  transgression,  and  may  rufi  for  is  joyful. 

7.  The  cause  of  the  poor.  —  Heb.  :  the  good  man  regards  the 
rights  of  the  poor,  the  bad  man  does  not  tmderstand  knowledge. 
Antithetic.  Good  =  righteous.  Regards  is  lit.  knows,  =  "  has 
sympathetic  knowledge  of,"  "  considers  favorably  "  ;  see  note  on 
12^°,  and  cf.  i//  i^  37'^ ;  this  pregnant  sense  of  the  verb  belongs  par- 
ticularly to  the  later  language.*  Rights  =  cause  (properly  the 
legal  judgment,  the  justice  due)  ;  see  20*  31^"  Jer.  5-^  <//  140^-''^^ 
The  word  poor  refers  to  physical  poverty  (10'  19"  22"  \\i  41^^^^ 
al.).  —  The  expression  does  not  ufiderstand  knoivledge  is  usually 
explained  as  =  "  has  no  knowledge  of  (=no  concern  for)  the 
poor,"  but  the  words  will  hardly  bear  this  interpretation ;  under- 
stand knowledge  means  simply  "  have  understanding  or  knowledge 
or  insight"  (19"^  Isa.  32"*),  and  such  reference  to  intellectual 
clearness  and  vigor  is  not  what  is  required  in  our  couplet.  The 
text  may  be  changed  so  as  to  read  the  wicked  (or,  bad)  man  does 
not  understand  justice,  or  .  .  .  does  not  plead  for  the  needy  (cf. 
3i«  Jer.  5^8). 

8.  Wisdom  is  a  peacemaker. 

Unscrupulous  men  kindle  discord  in  a  city, 
But  wise  men  turn  aside  anger. 

Antithetic,  ternary.  Unscrupulous  7nen,  lit.  vten  of  scoffing  (see 
i^^),  men  who  laugh  at  moral  obligations,  and  stir  up  the  baser 

*  Cf.  the  early  use  "  to  know  intimately  (that  is,  carnally),"  as  in  Gen.  4I. 


XXIX.  5-IO  509 

passions  of  their  fellow-citizens  (Isa.  28").  Kitidle  discord  in, 
Elizabethan  Eng.  inflame  (RV.  sei  in  a  fiame),  lit.  blow  up  (a 
fire)  ;  so  in  Ez.  2 1 '*''•''*",  cf.  Cant.  2^^  4^-^".  Elsewhere  in  Pr.  the 
verb  =  iifh'r  (that  is,  "puff  out  words,"  6'"  12"  \/^^-^^  19^^)  ;  cf. 
i/'  \o^,  puffs  at,  poohpoohs ;  in  ^  12'^'*^'  the  sense  is  rather /a;//y 
aftei;  desires.  —  The  anger  is  that  of  the  men  (the  parties)  of  the 
city. 

9.  Lawsuits  between  wise  men  and  fools.  —  Lit. :  A  wise 
man  has  a  lawsuit  ivith  a  fool,  and  he  is  excited  (lit.  trembles) 
and  laughs  and  there  is  no  quiet  (or,  rest).  The  subject  of  second 
line  may  be  the  wise  man  (Lat.),  with  the  sense  :  whether  he  be 
angry  or  laugh,  there  is  no  quiet  (no  end  to  the  contention),  or 
ihtfool  (Grk.),  who  is  then  said  to  show,  by  his  excitement  (that 
is,  probably,  his  anger)  and  his  frivolous  or  derisive  laughter,  that 
he  has  no  sense  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation.  The  predi- 
cates is  angry  and  laughs  appear  to  belong  more  naturally  to  the 
fool  than  to  the  wise  man,  who  is  rather  marked  by  quiet  (Eccl. 
()^'')  ;  the  expression  there  is  no  quiet  can  hardly  mean  constantly 
(see  Job  17^"  Eccl.  4^  6^).  — The  general  sense  seems  to  be  that  it 
is  not  advisable  for  a  wise  man  to  have  a  controversy  with  a  fool. 
According  to  OT.  usage  the  predicate  in  first  line  signifies  an 
action  at  law  (i  S.  12^  Jer.  2^  Ez.  17^  Isa.  43^^  \^  9^9(20)^^  ^^^  ^^^ 
quarrel  or  controversy.  Quiet  (or,  peace)  is  understood  by  some 
as  =  silence,  that  is,  the  fool  talks  so  much  that  there  can  be  no 
profitable  discussion. 

XXIX.  2.  |§  n'3-;;  <S  ijKUfua^ofj.ii'ui',  =  r\'D-^2  (Jag.)  or  perhaps  i^an 
(Lag.);  read  nm.  — 1§  plu.  opfi;  better  sing.  (Bi.).  —  3.  The  parallelism 
suggests  the  omission  of  v^a.  —  4.  |^  ncnn  t;"N;  (5  (followed  by  SST)  wapavo- 
fjios,  =  piDin  va  (Lag.)  or  niDin  V'H  (Baumg.),  cf.  Kethib  in  Jer.  14I*.  IL  ava- 
rus.  —  6.  |§  Vi^o;  Pinsker  {Bab.-Neb.  Punktationssysiem,  p.  156)  jj^'o  (i  S.  20^). 
—  1^  \y\  Pinsk.  -^y;  Dys.  x^y,  &  z'p^i  .  .  .  lya-aa.  —  7.  |§  n;!i  191  is  suspi- 
cious;   possibly  •'jy  \y.  —  9.    riN  hn  may  be  omitted. 

10.  Lit. :  Men  of  blood  hate  a  perfect  man,  and  upright  men 
seek  his  life,  the  second  line  of  which  is  impossible.  To  put  a 
pause  after  7(pright  men,  reading  :  men  of  blood  hate  a  perfect  man 
a?id  upright  men  —  they  seek  his  blood,  gives  an  unsymmetrical 
division  of  lines  and  a  loose  grammatical  form.      The  renderings ; 


5IO  PROVERBS 

and  as  for  the  upright,  they  (the  men  of  blood)  seek  his  (the 
upright's)  life  (RV.)  and  (Zock.  RV.  marg.)  :  but  the  upright  care 
for  his  life  (or,  soul^  are  unwarranted  (the  construction  is  differ- 
ent in  \\i  142^'^').  We  may  change  upright  to  zvicked,  or  seek  to 
seek  out  (that  is,  "care  for").  The  emended  verb  occurs  in  20-^ 
in  the  sense  examine  into,  reflect  on  (vows),  and  in  Ez.  34"-^^  in 
that  of  seek  out  (scattered  sheep)  ;  in  this  sense  of  inquire  after 
it  may  ="  look  after  the  interests  of"  (cf.  \\i  142'''^^).  Bickell : 
tJie  upright  seek  to  refresh  (or,  sustain)  him.  —  The  second  emen- 
dation calls  for  the  less  change  in  the  Hebrew ;  the  first  gives  the 
more  probable  sense. 

11.  Kestraint  of  anger. 

A  fool  utters  all  his  wrath, 

But  a  wise  man  <  restrains  his  anger.' 

Antithetic,  ternary.  In  second  line  the  Heb.  reads  :  but  a  wise 
man  stills  it  back  ;  the  //  naturally  refers  to  the  fool's  wrath,  but  it 
is  obviously  the  wise  man's  wrath  that  the  couplet  contemplates. 
The  verb  still  (ip  89'''^"')  does  not  accord  with  the  adverb  back, 
and  the  constr.  pregnans  (RV.  keepeth  it  back  and  s title th  it)  is 
improbable;  nor  can  back  —  "'m.  the  background  of  his  soul" 
(De.),  or  "afterwards"  (Siegf.).  The  Grk.  suggests  the  appro- 
priate term  restrain  (Bi.),  and  for  the  doubtful  back  we  may  read 
his  anger  (Frank.). —  Wrath  is  lit.  spirit  {—  mind  ox  frame  of 
mind  or  temper),  here,  from  the  connection  (as  in  Eccl.  10^),  a 
state  of  wrath. 

12-14.   Great  and  poor. 

12.  If  a  ruler  listens  to  falsehood, 
All  his  servants  are  wicked. 

13.  The  poor  and  the  oppressor  meet  together, 
Yahweh  gives  light  to  the  eyes  of  both. 

14.  A  king  who  deals  equitably  with  the  poor, 
His  throne  will  be  estabhshed  forever. 

12.  Condition  and  consequence,  ternary-binary.  Falsehood  I'&htre. 
any  sort  of  untruthful  statement,  as  unjust  accusation  (especially 
of  the  poor),  falsity  in  civil  administration  and  political  relations; 
the  courtiers  adjust   themselves  to  the  prince.  —  Servant  is  any 


XXIX.  IO-I6  511 

functionary  in  the  service  of  the  king  (i  S.  i6'  2  S.  2'--^''  2  K.  5" 
Pr.  i4^rt/.).  —  13.  Single  sentence,  ternary.  A  variation  of  22-, 
on  which  see  note.  Oppressor  seems  to  be  a  general  term, 
involving  all  sorts  of  hard  procedures,  financial  and  other  (cf.  the 
similar  term  in  \\i  \o'  55"'^'^  72"),  but  there  may  be  special  refer- 
ence to  money  (cf.  the  rich  of  22-)  ;  Grk.  :  creditor  ntid  debtor. 
—  Meet  together,  as  in  22'-.  —  The  second  line  =  "  God  enables 
both  to  see,"  that  is,  "  gives  to  both  the  light  of  life  "  (i/^  13''  Job 
2^-^^  Eccl.  1 1'),  creates  both,  permits  them  to  exist,  and  controls 
them  —  that  is,  there  must  be  social  classes,  but  God  governs  all. 
— 14.  Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Lit.  :  who  judges  the 
poor  in  truth.  Cf.  16'-  20-'*  2^'  31^.  The  perpetual  duration  of 
the  dynasty  is  made  to  depend  not  on  physical  or  intellectual  but 
on  moral  character ;  the  sage  has  in  mind  probably  divine  bless- 
ing, possibly  economic  and  other  social  laws;  cf.  \\i  iS"^"'"'  45""' 
72". 

15-17.   Training  of  children.     Triumph  of  the  righteous. 

15.  The  rod  of  correction  gives  wisdom, 

But  a  child  left  to  himself  brings  disgrace  on  his  mother. 

16.  When  the  wicked  lare  in  power,'  wrong  increases, 
But  the  righteous  will  feast  their  eyes  on  their  fall. 

17.  Correct  thy  son,  and  he  will  yield  thee  comfort, 
And  give  delight  to  thy  soul. 

15.  Antithetic,  ternary  (or,  quaternary).  Lit. :  rod  and  correc- 
tion, hendiadys.  Cf.  13-^  23'^.  For  left  to  himself  {\\\..  let  go, 
=  unrestrained)  see  Isa.  16'  {scattered  nestlings)  27'"  {a  scattered 
home),  and  cf.  Job  39^.  Brings  disgrace,  cf.  10^  17-'.  The  mother 
appears  to  be  named  not  as  being  the  tenderer  parent,  perhaps  as 
the  one  who  has  most  to  do  with  the  training  of  the  young  child, 
possibly  for  rhetorical  variation  (cf  17"^  23-''"').  Grk.  parents 
may  be  free  translation.  — 16.  Implicit  antithesis,  ternary.  Cf. 
jjio.  u  28'-- 2**  29"l  Li  first  line,  for  Heb.  increase,  read  govern  (as 
in  29-),  or  are  in  poiver. — The  second  line  assumes  that  right 
will  prevail  in  civil  government  as  in  all  other  things.  Feast  the 
eyes  on  is  lit.  see  in  (so  Ez.  28^'^)  ;  the  fall  of  the  wicked  is  the 
salvation  of  the  righteous  (i// 3^*^'  ^io(n)  24-^'--'  diUiX  passim)  —  a 
sentiment  engendered  by  the  conflicts  of  the  later  times  (cf.  the 


5 12  PROVERBS 

English  Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century).  —  The  couplet  sepa- 
rates two  similar  couplets,  and  is  perhaps  out  of  place.  In  the  Grk. 
it  stands  both  here  and  after  28^',  — 17.  Single  sentence  (with  two 
identical  consequents),  ternary.  See  19^*  and  passages  referred 
to  under  v.^^.  Yield  comfoi't  is  lit.  give  rest,  relieve  from  anxiety ; 
see  Dt.  12'*'  2  S.  f  Ez.  s^''  Lam.  5^  al. 

18.  Heb.  :  where  there  is  no  vision  people  perish  (or,  become 
disorderly^ ,  but  he  who  obeys  instruction  (or,  Imv),  happy  is  he. 
Antithetic,  ternary.  The  word  vision  must  refer  to  divine  com- 
munications to  prophets,  and  the  text  gives  the  two  forms  of  Isra- 
elitish  divine  revelation.  But  the  vision  can  hardly  be  genuine. 
The  statement  of  first  cl.  is  historically  incorrect :  the  most  calam- 
itous period  of  IsraeUte  history,  politically  and  morally,  was  that 
during  which  prophecy  was  at  its  height  (and  foreign  nations  do 
not  come  into  consideration),  and  the  people  were  obedient  at  a 
time  when  God  hid  his  face  and  there  was  no  prophet  (1/'  44.  74). 
Moreover,  Pr.  nowhere  else  mentions  prophetic  teaching,  its 
guide  being  wisdom,  the  instruction  of  the  sages.  We  should 
probably  substitute  for  vision  some  such  word  as  guida?ice  (see 
11^*).— People  =  "  folk,"  as  in  24^*  Ez.  36^  \p  22^^'\  not  the  people, 
the  nation.  The  precise  meaning  of  the  verb  of  first  line  is 
doubtful;  it  appears  to  be  equivalent  to  the  "fall"  of  11^*;  the 
signification  "  become  disorderly,  throw  off  restraint "  is  assumed 
from  Ex.  32^. 

10.  |§  irpa'';  Dys.  np3\  It  is  perhaps  better  to  change  D")tt'"'  to  Djus*!. — 
Bi.  ic-flj  irp3",  citing,  for  such  Aram,  form,  the  nr-(  of  Hos.  13^;  but  the  form 
nm  is  doubtful  (see  (S),  and  for  a  Heb.  verbal  noun  rnj  there  is  no  authority; 
for  tt'o:  respiration,  quiet  see  Buxt.  Lex.  — 11.  On  the  sense  quiet  for  stem 
n^B*  see  Lane  (Z<f.y.),  who  holds  the  fundamental  meaning  to  ht  far  removed, 
free  (from  care),  whence  declare  free  (from  imperfections)  =  praise  ;  of.  the 
Talmudic  use  to  make  better,  more  effective.  (@  Taixievrai;  S?C  ^vn;  IL  differt 
et  reservat.  Read  -irn,  with  Bi.  —  ||J  -ihsa;  SE  Nr>'i3,  in  thought.  Read 
'ij'in.  —  13.  J^  a-'DiP  ti'Ni  C~i;  (5  Saj'to-ToO  /cat  xP^^4>'^^'^°^  (^s  if  =  rbKO'i,  Lag.). 
The  sense  of  stem  ~\~^  appears  to  be  press,  repress,  oppress  (so  Aram.  Arab.) ; 
of.  "IP.  — 16.  ?^  n3-\3;  read  mm.  — 18.  p?  frn;  @  ^^tjytjttjs  ^«?^^,  perhaps 
free  rendering  of  |^,  possibly  =  r''^pn-,  which,  however,  is  elsewhere  (except 
in  Job  37^^)  represented  by  Kv^ipvt]ai.%  or  Kv^epvQais.  —  S^ST  avoid  the  state- 
ment of  |§  (which  probably  seemed  to  them  disparaging  to  an  age  that  had 
no  visions),  and  substitute,  from  v.i^,  7uAen  the  uncked  increase  (Pink.).  —  We 


XXIX.  i6-i9,  21 


513 


sVould  perhaps  read  rh.n^;  ^^n  //..  (r,ot  r.H>)  hardly  suits.-l^  may  have 
i::  inLncL  by  the  n.n  of  v.o.  For  1,  ...  Frank  -S.--.  ^  po-bK 
n.^  will  be  scattered,  which,  however,  is  hardly  suitable.  O"  .^^^^J^^  ^^^ 
Ges.  r/....  ar.d  note  on  i'^^;  the  sense  pensh  may  perh.  be  alhed  with  the 
sense  free  ;  of.  Arab.  /-id. 

19.  The  training  of  servants. 

Not  by  words  must  a  servant  be  taught, 
For  he  understands,  but  does  not  obey. 

Single  sentence,  ternary.      The  servant,  so  the  proverb  intinnates 
like  the  son  (v.-),  must  be  trained  by  the  ^-^-^^^^'jfj'^' 
guide  him  -  he  is  not  quite  a  rational  bemg.     On  servant  (prop- 
erly slave)  see  note  on  1 1-      Tat.ght  =  corrected,  set  right,  chsct- 

pined  (9^  X9-  39^  cf.  31^).  ^-  -^  ^^^-^  '\  ''"-^rZZ 
answer. -GvK  interpreting:  a  stubborn  servant.  The  render 
in-  that  servant  ^vill  not  amend  upon  admonition  who,  under- 
standing,  will  yet  give  no  answer  (Hodgson)  misses  the  pomt  of 
the  couplet.  Cf.  Ben-Sira's  detailed  instructions  for  the  manage- 
ment of  servants  (BS.  33'^^0- 

21    The  couplet  seems  to  belong  with  v.-      Heb. :    he  who 
delicately  brings  up  his  servant  from  a  child,  in  the  end  he  will  be 
The  subject  of  second  line  may  be  the  subject  {Jie)  or 
ihe  object  ^servant)  of  first  line.     In  the  end  =  at  the  conclusion 
of  this  mode  of  procedure -it  denotes  the  outcome  of  the  exper- 
u.ent,  not  necessarily  the  end  of  life.      The  omitted  word,  which 
occurs  only  here,  has  been  rendered  refractory  (Lat.),  unthankful 
(Ew.),.^;^  i^^^^.^^.-),  young  gentleman  (Luth.)  etc.;  it  is  prob- 
ably an  error  of  text.     De. :  he  [the  master]  will  finally  become  a 
nursery,  that  is,  his  house  will  be  overrun  by  the  children  of  his 
pampered  servant.  -  Grk. :    he  who  from  a  child  lives  luxuriously 
will  be  a  servant,  and  in  the  end  will  come  to  grief      Some  such 
reading  as  this  for  second  cl.  should  probably  be  adopted  though 
it  is  not  clear  whether  it  is  the  master  or  the  servant  or  the  child 
that  comes  to  grief. 

20,  22,  23.  Of  passion  and  pride. 

20.    Seest  thou  a  man  hasty  in  his  words? 

There  is  more  hope  for  a  fool  than  for  him. 
2L 


514  PROVERBS 

22.  An  irascible  man  stirs  up  strife, 

And  a  passionate  man  is  the  cause  of  much  wrong. 

23.  A  man's  pride  will  bring  him  low, 

But  he  who  is  of  a  lowly  spirit  will  obtain  honor. 

20.  Condition  and  consequence,  ternary.  The  rendering  affairs, 
business  (RV.  marg.)  instead  oi  words  is  possible  —  the  general 
sense  is  the  same  :  haste  is  destructive  of  reflection  ;  cf.  10*. — 
For  second  line  see  note  on  26^".  Cf.  BS.  9^^  Jas.  i^^.  —  22.  Syn- 
onymous, ternary.  Irascible  man,  lit.  man  cf  anger  =  one  given 
to  anger  (not  an  aiigry  man,  which  expresses  a  merely  temporary 
feeling),  =  passionate  (lit.  possessor  of  wratli).  The  predicate  of 
second  cl.  is  lit.  great  (or,  abounding)  in  transgression,  that  is, 
causing  sin  in  himself  and  others  by  occasioning  and  fomenting 
quarrels.  Cf.  15^^  141^-29  16^2  22^'' al.  —  23.  Antithetic,  ternary. 
See  notes  on  n^  13'"  15^  i6^**-^^  —  The  paronomasia  low  .  .  . 
/o7i>/y  is  found  in  the  Hebrew. 

24.   Partnership  in  theft. 

He  who  is  partner  with  a  thief  is  enemy  to  himself  — 
He  hears  the  curse  and  discloses  nothing. 

Single  sentence,  quaternary-ternary.  Is  partner  with,  lit.  walks 
with,  that  is,  probably,  belongs  to  a  gang  of  thieves  (see  1'°"^^). 
The  case  contemplated  (if  the  text  be  correct)  may  be  that  of  a 
theft  in  which  the  guilty  person  is  unknown  —  a  curse  is  pro- 
nounced on  the  unknown  thief — the  man  in  question  hears  it, 
but  is  afraid  to  say  anything,  and  the  curse,  which  has  objective 
or  magic  power  (see  note  on  26-),  strikes  him;  cf.  Ju.  17^.*  As 
an  oath  involved  a  curse  (the  vengeance  of  the  deity  being 
invoked  against  the  violator  of  the  oath),  the  word  here  used  may 
also  mean  oath  (as  in  Gen.  24^^  i  K.  8'^^  Ez.  17^^)  ;  in  Dt. 
2gi4(i3).  19(18)  jj^g  term  is  equivalent  to  covenant  (a  curse  being  pro- 
nounced against  a  delinquent).  The  case  described  in  Lev.  5^  is 
apparently  that  of  a  witness  in  court  who,  having  heard  the  curse 
uttered  on  an  unknown  offender,  fails  to  tell  what  he  knows,  and 
thus  hinders  the  execution  of  justice  ;  he  is  acquitted  on  present- 
ing an  offering.  —  The  couplet  is  otherwise  explained  as  referring 

*  See  Moore,  Judges. 


XXIX.    20,    22-27  515 

to  the  accomplice  in  a  theft  who  is  called  into  court  as  witness, 
has  an  oath  administered  to  him  (RV.  ]ie  heareth  the  adjufaiion) , 
and  perjures  himself.  But  in  that  case  the  connection  between 
the  two  lines  is  not  clear.  Partnership  with  a  thief  does  not  nec- 
essarily or  usually  involve  being  summoned  as  witness,  it  does 
involve  moral  injury  to  the  man  whether  he  is  forced  into  perjury 
or  not,  and  the  perjury  does  not  bring  physical  injury  unless  it  is 
discovered  ;  moreover,  the  verb  hears  is  not  the  natural  expres- 
sion for  taking  an  oath  —  we  should  rather  expect :  he  swears  to 
tell  the  truth,  yet  discloses  nothing.  Hitzig,  therefore,  interprets  : 
"  he  is  really  partner  with  a  thief  who,  being  called  on  to  testify, 
says  nothing."  Possibly  second  line  is  corrupt,  or  out  of  place. — 
The  proverb  may  be  aimed  at  men  in  high  places  who  employed 
inferiors  in  acts  of  robbery  or  peculation,  and  shielded  them  in 
legal  inquiries. 

25-27.   Of  piety  and  probity. 

25.  The  fear  of  man  brings  a  snare, 
But  he  who  trusts  in  Yahweh  is  safe. 

26.  Many  seek  the  ruler's  favor, 

But  every  man's  case  is  decided  by  Yahweh. 

27.  The  righteous  abhor  the  vicious, 
The  wicked  abhor  the  upright. 

25.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Fear  of  man  =  regulatibn  of  one's  con- 
duct by  the  opinion  or  attitude  of  morally  untrained  men,  fearing 
to  speak  truth  and  do  right  lest  it  should  provoke  enmity. 
Brings  a  snare  =  involves  in  misfortune.  J/e  is  safe  (lit.  set  on 
high  in  a  safe  place,  cf.  18^°"  \\i  2o'(-')  who  trusts  for  protection 
in  God,  and  does  his  duty.  Cf.  10-'  12^  al.  —  26.  Antithetic,  ter- 
nary, or,  ternary-binary.  Cf.  16-"-".  Favor  vs,  lit.  face;  cf.  i//  27^ 
and  Pr.  6''^  xj/  10"  16".  The  face  showed  the  disposition  or 
temper  of  mind,  and  the  term  is  equivalent  in  Heb.  to  presence. 
The  proverb  deplores  immoral  (cringing  or  corrupt)  reliance  on 
human  (especially  political)  power  —  God  decides  every  man's 
destiny.  —  27.  Antithetic,  ternary.  Lit.:  the  abomination  of  the 
righteous  is  etc.,  and  the  abomination  of  the  wicked  is  etc.  On 
abomination  see  note  on  f- ;  vicious,  lit.  man  0/  iniguitv;  upright, 
Ut.  upright  of  way.     Cf.  8'  15"  24''. 


5l6  PROVERBS 

21.  1^  Jijc,  ttTT.  Xe7.,  is  usually  taken  as  =  pj  scion,  offspring,  a  sense 
possible  but  not  probable;  Berth. 's  emendation  |n2  does  not  afford  a  satisfac- 
torily definite  antithesis;  jix  (cf.  25^3  27I8  30I")  would  be  better  —  the  sing, 
form  of  this  word  is  found  in  30^''  Keth.,  in  the  other  instances  the  plur.  The 
choice  of  a  air.  \ey.,  =  son,  instead  of  p,  would  be  strange;  the  word  is 
probably  a  miswriting.  (@  65vv7)dr}<T€Tai,  =  (Jag.)  fVa  n\T';  %  n^n":;  (from 
n:x)  ;  2C  n^p.  For  jjd  Ew.  {/a/u-b.  xi.  p.  10  ff.)  cites  Eth.  mannani,  one  who 
despises.  ©'^  should  probably  be  adopted;  for  ^  either  |^  or  (§  gives  a  good 
sense.  —  23.  Note  the  assonance  in  Ssr.n  and  Sou'. — 24.  After  |^  331  Bi. 
inserts  njii  at'  3jjd,  and  omits  |§'',  which  may  be  a  gloss  after  Lev.  5^.  Bi.'s 
emendation  is  ingenious,  and  the  resultant  sense  is  not  inapposite,  but  njjj  C'i' 
is  an  improbable  expression  (see,  for  ex..  Gen.  43-^).  — 25.  (5  has  two  versions 
of  the  couplet,  J^  anx  T^Y^J)  being  rendered  in  the  second  by  dv^peia,  free 
translation,  opposite  of  deoeri^eia  (Lag.). 


V.     CHAPTERS   XXX.,  XXXI. 
Chapter  XXX. 

The  chapter  forms  a  separate  collection  of  sayings,  differing 
markedly  in  tone  from  the  rest  of  the  Book.  Its  contents  lead 
us  to  refer  it  to  the  latest  period  of  gnomic  collections  ;  it  was 
probably  added  by  the  latest  editor,  that  is,  after  collections  I. -IV. 
had  been  made  up.  It  appears  also  to  have  undergone  editorial 
revision;  see  notes  on  v.^°- ^^- -". 

It  consists  of  the  title  (v.'"),  what  appears  to  be  the  "  words  of 
Agur"  (v.'"-^),  an  exhortation  to  trust  God  (v.^"),  a  prayer  (v.'"'-'), 
an  isolated  maxim  (v.^°),  a  series  of  tetrads  (v.'^"^^),  and  a  sextet 
on  pride  and  anger  (v.^^-^). 

How  much  of  the  chapter  the  collector  intended  to  include  in 
the  "words  of  Agur"  it  is  hardly  possible  to  say.  By  some  expos- 
itors the  whole  ch.  is  referred  to  Agur,  by  others  v.^"^  or  v.^"'",  by 
others  v.'"^  The  plu.  sayings  might  suggest  a  number  of  gnomes, 
but  cf.  31'"".  Since  the  paragraphs  are  in  thought  independent, 
and  must  be  treated  separately,  the  question  of  unity  of  author- 
ship is  not  important.  —  The  Heb.  of  v.'  reads:  The  words  of 
Agur,  the  son  of  Yakeh  {fakeh),  the  prophecy  (or,  oracle),  the 
prophetic  utterance  (or,  divine  utterance)  of  the  mafi  to  Ithiel,  to 
Ithiel  and  Ucal.  Since  the  expression  prophetic  utterance  always 
introduces  the  words  uttered  (Gen.  22^®  Nu.  2^  Am.  2"  a/.),  the 
title  proper  consists  of  the  preceding  part  of  the  verse.  In  this 
title  the  word  prophecy  {massa)  is  inapposite  ;  it  is  a  term  of  the 
Prophetic  vocabulary  (rendered  in  AV.  RV.  by  burden*),  and 
expresses  a  divine  message  or  oracle,  a  form  of  utterance  quite 
out  of  keeping  with  the  individual  and  reflective  tone  of  what  fol- 
lows.    How  the  word  is  to  be  treated  is  uncertain.     One  Grk. 

*  It  means  burden  as  well  as  prophetic  utterance ;  in  Jer.  2383-40  there  is  possibly 
a  play  on  the  two  senses  of  the  word. 


5l8  PROVERBS 

Vrs.  and  many  expositors  take  it  as  the  name  of  a  place,  or  name 
derived  from  name  of  place,  and  emend  to  from  (or,  of)  Massa, 
or,  the  Massaite.  Others,  by  a  different  emendation,  read  :  the 
gnomic  saying  (Heb.  niashai),  or,  the  gnomic  luriter  (Heb.  • 
moshel).  Those  who  regard  it  as  a  proper  name  identify  it  with 
the  region  Massa  of  Gen.  25"  i  C.  i^",  of  which  the  exact  loca- 
tion is  not  known,  though  it  was  presumably  not  far  from  the  Isra- 
elitish  border  (cf.  note  on  31^).  In  that  case  Agur  (Uke  the 
personages  of  the  Book  of  Job)  would  be  a  resident  of  a  non- 
Jewish  region  ;  it  would  not  follow  that  he  was  not  a  Jew,  or  that, 
if  a  Gentile,  he  was  unacquainted  with  Jewish  thought.  But,  as 
we  know  nothing  of  the  civilization  of  this  Massa,  the  name  adds 
nothing  to  the  understanding  of  the  passage.  The  second  read- 
ing (Saad.  Geig.  Bick.)  has  the  advantage  of  reheving  the  ques- 
tion from  the  geographical  discussion.  But,  if  it  be  adopted,  it 
must  probably  be  regarded  as  not  original,  since  sayings  is  a  suffi- 
cient description  of  what  follows  ;  or,  if  it  be  original,  it  must 
have  been  defined  in  some  way  (see  note  on  31^),  but  the  text 
gives  no  definition  (the  Lat.,  improperly  attaching  following  cl., 
has:  the  vision  which  the  man  spoke').  The  word  of  the  third 
reading  (Gratz),  moshel,  is  found  elsewhere  only  in  Nu.  21-''  Ez. 
16**  18^  (the  verb  several  times  in  Ez.),  and  then  in  the  sense  of 
"speaker,  reciter,  writer,  or  employer  of  proverbs,"  and  it  appears 
not  to  belong  to  the  vocabulary  of  the  philosophical  school ;  we 
should  rather  expect  sage  as  the  epithet  of  Agur.  Failing  a  satis- 
factory emendation,  we  may  regard  the  word  of  the  text  as  a  gloss 
or  as  unintelligible,  and  omit  it  without  detriment  to  the  sense, 
rendering  provisionally  : 

la.  The  title  proper.  The  words  of  Agur  Ben-Yakeh.  Of  the 
Anc.  Vrss.  Syr.  Targ.  and  Venet.  Grk.  take  Agur  and  Yakeh  as 
proper  names ;  Lat.  regards  the  words  as  descriptive  appellatives, 
and  translates  :  the  words  of  the  assembler,  the  son  of  the  vomiter, 
in  which  assembler  =  "  teacher,  one  who  gathers  the  people  for 
instruction,"  and  vomiter  =  "  one  who  pours  out  words  of  instruc- 
tion." Agur  is  identified  with  Solomon  (Yakeh  then  being  David) 
by  many  Jewish  and  Christian  expositors  (Rashi,  Aben  Ezra,  L. 
de  Dieu,  Stier  a/.)  ;    by  others  (Saad.  Mich,  at.)  he  is  taken  to  be 


XXX.  I  519 

an  otherwise  unknown  ancient  sage.  The  name  "  Yakeh  "  is  by 
some  (Miihlau,  De.)  held  to  \\\ea.x\  obedient,  pious;  the  Midrash 
explains  son  of  Yakeh  as  —  "  one  who  is  free  from  all  sin  and 
iniquity  "  ;  Hitzig  changes  the  word  and  renders  :  Agiir,  son  of 
her  whom  Massa  obeys  (Zockler  :  son  of  the  princess  of  Massa), 
Agur  being  thus  made  into  a  brother  of  Lemuel  (31^).  Grk.  sees 
no  proper  names  in  the  sentence  ;  it  renders  :  reverence  my  words, 
son,  and  receive  them  and  repent.  —  There  seems  to  be  nothing 
better  than  to  keep  the  Agur  Ben-  Yakeh,  and  to  regard  Agur  as  a 
sage,  Jewish  or  non-Jewish,  not  of  the  time  of  Solomon,  but  of  the 
late  reflective  period,  or  else  as  a  man  (like  Job)  famous  in  tradi- 
tion, and  taken  by  some  late  writer  as  his  mouthpiece  for  the 
expression  of  philosophic  thought. 

lt>.  Secondary  title  (?) .  Lit.:  inspired  utterance  of  the  man 
to  Ithiel,  to  Ithiel  and  Ukal,  in  which  most  of  the  older  interpreters 
see  the  names  of  two  ancient  sages,  some  suggesting  that  Ukal 
might  be  the  Calcol  of  i  K.  4'^[5"].  The  names  were  sometimes 
interpreted  as  significant,  Ithiel  (Neh.  11")  as  =  "signs  (=  pre- 
cepts) of  God,"  or  "  with  me  is  God,"  or  "  there  is  a  God," 
Ukal  as  =  "  I  can  "  (that  is,  "  I  can  maintain  my  obedience  to 
God  "),  the  reference  being  to  Solomon  or  to  some  other  man  or 
men.  —  Very  early,  however,  there  were  attempts  to  get  rid  of  the 
proper  names  and  explain  the  sentence  as  an  expression  of 
thought  introductory  to  what  follows.  Grk.  :  these  things  says  the 
man  to  those  who  trust  in  God,  and  I  cease  ;  Aq. :  to  Ethiel,  and 
do  thou  finish  ;  Th.  :  to  Ethiel,  and  I  shall  be  able ;  Lat.  para- 
phrases :  tlie  vision  spoken  by  the  man  with  whom  God  is,  and 
who,  because  God  abides  7vith  him,  is  strengthened.  In  1 669  Coc- 
ceius  (Koch)  in  his  Lexicon  proposed  to  translate  the  words  fol- 
lowing the  word  man  :  I  have  labored  on  account  of  God,  and  I 
have  obtained,  and  this  form  of  rendering,  which  found  little  favor 
at  the  time,  has  been  almost  universally  adopted,  though  with  vari- 
ations, by  modern  expositors.  The  clause  (after  the  word  man^ 
is  translated  :  I  have  zvcaried  myself  about  God  (or,  O  God),  I 
have  wearied  myself  about  God  (or,  O  God),  and  I  have  pined 
away  (or,  am  co7isumed  ox  faint,  or,  have  finished)  ;  or,  with  the 
insertion  of  the  negative  :    /  have  wearied  myself  etc.,  and  have 


520  PROVERBS 

not  succeeded  (or,  prevailed,  lit.  am  noi aide).  In  all  such  inter- 
pretations, if  the  letters  of  the  present  Heb.  text  be  retained 
unchanged,  the  Vocative,  O  God,  must  be  adopted  ;  the  render- 
ing about  God  is  unwarranted.  The  expressions  have  pined 
away,  or  am  faint,  or  am  at  an  end  (that  is,  of  my  powers) 
are  somewhat  forced ;  the  form  with  the  negative  (Bick.)  is 
better.  Apart  from  these  differences  of  construction  the  sen- 
tence, thus  emended,  expresses  Agur's  complete  failure  in  his 
effort  to  comprehend  God's  nature  and  mode  of  procedure.  This 
confession  of  ignorance  (agnosticism)  may  be  a  reverent  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  transcendence  of  God  (cf  Job  ii^"^"),  or  it  may 
be  an  expression  of  purely  philosophic  doubt ;  see  notes  on  v.^"^. 
—  None  of  these  emendations,  however,  can  be  considered  satis- 
factory. In  the  first  place,  the  jnan  cannot  stand  isolated,  but 
must  be  followed  by  a  descriptive  phrase,  as  in  Nu.  24'^-^-^^-^''  2  S. 
23^*;  and  Bickell  accordingly  changes  the  text  and  renders: 
utterance  of  the  man  who  has  wearied  himself  about  God:  I  have 
wearied  myself  etc. ;  but  this  repetition  is  unnatural  and  improb- 
able. It  is  more  likely  that  the  second  of  these  expressions  is 
erroneous  scribal  repetition  of  the  first,  or  a  corruption  of  some 
other  word.  In  the  next  place,  the  word  utterance,  which  is  the 
technical  term  for  the  message  of  the  prophet  or  the  chant  of  the 
'seer,  is  here  out  of  place  as  definition  of  a  philosophical  dictum. 
It  is  understood  by  some  as  an  ironical  designation  (by  Agur  or 
an  editor)  of  the  doubt  expressed  in  v.^"^ :  "  behold  the  exalted 
effusion  of  the  champion"  ;  but  such  irony  is  extremely  improb- 
able. Probably  a  descriptive  expression  originally  followed  the 
name  Agur  Ben- Yakeh  (cf.  31^)  or  some  statement  the  ground  of 
which  is  introduced  by  the  for  of  v.",  but  the  text  appears  to  be 
corrupt  beyond  possibility  of  restoration.  Fortunately  the  sense 
of  the  following  verses  is  independent  of  this  clause. 

2-4.   Agur's  dictum. 

2.    I  am  stupid,  beneath  man's  level, 
Have  not  human  intelligence. 

*  The  text  of  A>  361(2)  js  corrupt ;  see  Ols.  Cheyne,  and  Wellh.  in  Haupt's  Sacred 
Books. 


XXX.   1-4  521 

3-    I  have  not  learned  wisdom, 

I  do  not  comprehend  the  Holy  One. 
4.    Who  has  ascended  to  heaven  and  descended, 

Gathered  the  wind  in  his  fist, 

Bound  the  waters  in  a  garment, 

Fixed  the  boundaries  of  the  earth? 

What  is  his  name,  and  what  his  son's  name? 

Surely  thou  knowest. 

2,  3.  Synonymous,  ternary.  The  Heb.  begins  the  v.  \vith/<?r,  the 
reference  being  apparently  to  some  preceding  statement  now  lost. 
Apparently  a  sarcastic  avowal  of  intellectual  dulness,  =  "  there  are 
some  who  profess  to  understand  God  perfectly,  and  can  give  a 
full  explanation  of  all  that  he  does  —  I  am  not  one  of  these  wise 
men  "  —  a  sarcasm  possibly  aimed  at  men  like  the  Three  Friends 
and  Elihu  in  Job,  Agur  sympathizing  with  Job  himself;  only, 
while  Job's  doubt  is  agony  of  soul,  Agur's  interest  is  dispassionate. 
—  The  first  cl.  of  v.^  is  lit.  :  I  am  stupid  (or,  a  brute  beast)  from 
man,  not,  that  is,  "the  most  stupid  (or,  the  least  learned)  of  men," 
but  "  of  a  stupidity  that  separates  me  from  humanity,  and  equals 
me  with  the  lower  animals,"  and  this  is  the  sense  of  second  cl. 
also.  —  Stupid,  cf.  \2^  \\i  73^^;  here  it  refers  to  the  intellect.  On 
Holy  One  see  note  on  9^".  Possibly  there  is  here  allusion  to  such 
declarations  as  that  of  9^° ;  cf.  Job  6'".  Wisdom  —  the  pretended 
wisdom  of  the  schools.  —  4.  Five  questions,  ternary.  The  sub- 
ject cannot  be  "God"  (De.  a/.)  — this  interpretation  is  excluded 
by  the  sequence  asce?ided  .  .  .  descended  (the  starting-point  being 
the  earth),  and  by  the  reference  to  the  son*  Since  the  questions 
(which  appear  to  be  modelled  on  Job  38,  cf.  Pr.  8''*"-^)  express 
divine  acts,  they  must  be  regarded  as  a  sarcastic  description  of  a 
man  who  controls  the  phenomena  of  the  universe  (cf.  Reuss)  ; 
only  such  an  one  (as  Yahweh  says  to  Job)  can  speak  authorita- 
tively of  God's  nature  and  administration. — The  garment  is  the 

*  In  support  of  the  reference  to  God,  Cheyne  {Job  and  Solomon,  p.  151  f.)  cites 
Rig-Veda,  10,  129:  "Who  knows,  who  here  can  declare,  whence  has  sprung, 
whence,  this  creation  ?  ...  From  what  this  creation  arose,  and  whether  [any 
one]  made  it,  or  not,  he  who  in  the  highest  heaven  is  its  ruler,  he  verily  knows,  or 
[even]  he  does  not  know."  But,  as  Cheyne  himself  intimates,  between  the  specu- 
lations of  an  Indian  philosopher  and  the  skepticism  of  a  Jewish  sage  there  is  a 
wide  gulf. 


522  PROVERBS 

clouds  (Job  26^).  Cf.  notes  on  S"'"-".  To  know  a  man's  name 
and  his  soil's  name  is  to  be  well  acquainted  with  him.  The  satir- 
ical tone  is  continued  in  the  last  words  :  surely  thou  knowest,  or 
less  well  that  thou  sliouhV st  knoiv,  or  if  thou  knozoest.  Cf.  Job 
38^.  —  The  questions  are  by  some  expositors  supposed  to  be 
asked  not  by  Agnr,  but  by  a  doubter  (the  man  of  v.'),  to  whom 
Agur  replies  in  v.'^'';  see  notes  on  v. ^  —  On  the  supposition  that 
the  subject  of  the  v.  is  "  God  "  the  son  has  been  understood  as 
=  Israel  {Alidrash),  or  the  demiurge  (Levi  ben-Gerson),  or  Christ 
(Procop.  al.),  or  as  an  adumbration  of  the  Alexandrian  doctrine 
of  the  Logos  (Ew.)  or  of  the  NT.  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  God 
(De.).  But  in  all  these  cases  both  the  name  and  the  son's 
name  would  be  known.  —  The  brevity  of  Agur's  discourse  makes 
it  obscure.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  regard  it  as  irreverent 
toward  God  or  as  a  denial  of  his  existence,  or  as  scoffing  at 
"revealed  religion";  the  conception  of  "revealed  religion,"  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  expression,  did  not  then  exist.  He 
seems  to  take  the  position  of  the  discourse  of  Yahweh  (Job 
^g2-5ir.^  .  j-jjg  attitude  is  one  of  reverent  agnosticism,  and  he 
belongs  to  the  school  of  the  last  reviser  of  the  Book  of  Job  and 
Koheleth.  Cf.  the  submissive  tone  of  i//  131  in  the  face  of  ques- 
tions like  that  here  raised. 

5,  6.  Exhortation  to  trust  and  obey  God. 

5.  Every  word  of  God  is  pure ; 

He  is  a  shield  to  those  who  trust  in  him. 

6.  Add  not  to  his  words, 

Lest  he  rebuke  thee,  and  thou  be  found  a  har. 

V.^  is  a  couplet,  ternary,  taken  from  i/^  ig""*^"  (=  2  S.  22^^)  ;  cf. 
^  12^'^^  119"".  V.^  is  a  prose  sentence,  the  first  half  of  which  is 
taken  from  Dt.  4^  (or  12^^  [i3^])>  ^•"d  the  second  half  appears  to 
be  based  on  Job  13*"'°.  —  The  word  God  is  in  the  Heb.  the  sing, 
form  {Elo^h,  plu.  Elohi?n),  found  in  Prov.  only  here,  often  in  Job, 
elsewhere  rare,  always  in  postexilian  writings,  except  Dt.  32'^^^^ 
Hab.  i"  Isa.  44*  (and  in  the  two  last  passages,  and  perhaps  in  the 
first,  it  is  not  a  proper  name,  but  a  common  noun)  ;  in  xp  i8'^"  the 
name  is  Ya/iweh. — The  adj.  in  v.^  may  be  renilQrtd  pure,  purified, 
like  a  metal,  morally  perfect,  a  perfect  guide,  or  tried,  trustworthy, 


XXX.  4-6  523 

so  that  his  promise  may  be  relied  on. — Rebuke  =  reprove,  correct, 
set  righi;  see  3'-  9'**  15^'  al.  —  The  passage  is  by  some  regarded 
as  the  editor's  reply  to  x^gur's  preceding  sceptical  utterance,  by 
others  as  Agur's  reply  to  the  sceptical  opinion  quoted  by  him. 
But  the  expressions  are  too  general  for  a  formal  reply ;  in  a 
polemic  we  should  expect  a  more  specific  reference  to  what  pre- 
cedes. V.-^  assert  that  God  is  incomprehensible  ;  v.^- "  declare 
that  God's  word  is  pure,  final,  and  complete,  and  that  he  pro- 
tects those  who  trust  him.  The  paragraph  may  have  been  here 
inserted  by  the  editor  to  relieve  the  negative  tone  of  v.-"^,  but 
hardly  to  refute  the  assertion  of  the  latter.  —  The  stress  is  here 
laid  on  the  completeness  of  God's  words,  and  the  paragraph  is 
aimed  at  certain  persons  who  wished  to  add  to  them.  The  tvords 
are  the  written  revelation,  that  is,  the  Law,  and  probably  the 
Prophets,  and  also  the  Psalms,  since  one  of  these  is  quoted. 
The  threefold  division  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  (Law,  Prophets, 
Writings)  is  first  expressly  mentioned  in  the  Preface  to  Ben-Sira 
(B.C.  132),  and  this  paragraph  may  have  been  written  not  far  from 
that  time.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  additions  are  referred  to. 
In  the  preceding  paragraph  (v.""^)  there  is  no  indication  of  inten- 
tion to  add  to  the  written  word  ;  rather,  if  any  modification  of  the 
word  is  suggested,  it  is  a  subtraction  (see  notes  above),  but  our 
sage,  in  quoting  from  Deut.,  omits  the  injunction  take  vot  from  it, 
as  if  he  had  only  additions  in  mind.  These  are  more  probably 
doctrinal  than  ritual,  and  more  probably  religious  than  philosoph- 
ical. Possibly  the  allusion  is  to  the  new  doctrines  of  resurrection 
and  immortality,  which  began  to  take  shape  among  the  Jews  in 
the  second  century  B.C.  The  writer,  in  that  case,  belonged  to  the 
conservative  party.  The  authority  of  the  written  word  was  univer- 
sally recognized ;  but  the  progressive  party  (afterward  known  as 
the  Pharisees)  adopted  suggestions  from  Persian  and  Greek 
thought,  and  thus  made  additions  to  the  teaching  of  Law,  Proph- 
ets, and  Psalms.  Koheleth  (Eccl.  (f)  combats  the  doctrine  of 
immortality;  Daniel  (ch.  12)  affirms  resurrection  of  Israelites, 
but  says  nothing  of  immortality  proper  ;  Wisd.  of  Solomon  (ch.  3) 
accepts  this  latter  doctrine,  but  says  nothing  of  resurrection.  The 
two  ideas  were  not  established  without  a  struggle. 

Omitting  y}^-'^^-'^^-^^-'^^  the  remainder  of  the  chapter  consists  of 


524  PROVERBS 

proverbs  in  which  groups  of  two  or  four  things  are  named  (as  in 
gi6-i9^_  This  numerical  arrangement  is  found  as  early  as  the 
eighth  century  b.c.  (Am.  1^-2"),  and  appears  several  times  in  late 
poetry  {ij/  62"^^-'  Job  5^^  ;^;^^^  40'),  but  is  most  fully  employed  in 
this  chapter.  It  is  probably  a  very  ancient  form  of  the  Heb. 
mashal  or  stanza,  in  which  it  was  useful  as  an  aid  to  memory. 
The  peculiarity  of  enumeration  seems  to  be  merely  a  mode  of 
expressing  indefiniteness  {=  three  or  four),  in  accordance  with 
the  mashalic  principle  of  parallelism  (heightening).  — Cf.  BS.  23^" 
25^  26*,  and  the  Kalevala. 

7-9.    A  prayer  for  preservation  from  the  temptations  of 
poverty  and  riches. 

7.  Two  things  I  ask  of  thee, 
Deny  me  them  not  before  I  die : 

8.  Deceit  and  lying  put  far  from  me, 
Poverty  and  riches  give  me  not  — 
Provide  me  with  the  food  I  need  — 

9.  Lest  I  be  full  and  deny  thee, 
And  say :  "  Who  is  Yahweh?  " 
Or  be  needy  and  steal. 

And  profane  the  name  of  my  God. 

The  form  of  the  stanza  is  not  symmetrical.  Of  the  two  things 
mentioned  in  the  petition,  namely,  deceit  and  financial  extremes, 
only  the  latter  is  referred  to  in  v." ;  the  poet,  perhaps,  thought  the 
reason  for  the  prayer  against  lying  too  obvious  to  need  mention. 
The  third  line  of  v.^  looks  like  a  gloss ;  it  is  involved  in  the  second 
line.  In  vJ  we  might  expect,  in  accordance  with  the  norm  of  sev- 
eral following  stanzas,  the  enumeration  one  .  .  .  two  (De.).  Also 
the  expression  before  I  die  is  somewhat  strange.  The  similar 
expression  in  \p  2,g^^^^^^  involves  the  meaning  :  "  I  am  soon  to  die  ; 
grant  me  relief  from  my  present  suffering  that  I  may  taste  some 
happiness  before  I  die  and  lose  the  possibility  of  enjoyment." 
Here,  however,  the  situation  is  different :  the  petitioner  asks  not 
for  cessation  of  suffering,  but  for  a  lifelong  provision  ;  in  the  Ps. 
the  relief  might  be  deferred  till  death,  here  the  petition  involves 
life,  so  that  the  before  I  die  is  unnecessary,  and,  as  it  involves  the 
present,  the  setting  a  future  limit  is  inappropriate.  The  couplet 
should  perhaps  read  :    one  thi?ig  J  ask  of  thee,  two  things  deny  me 


XXX.  6-IO  525 

not ,■  the  norm  one  .  .  .  two  is  perhaps,  however,  intentionally 
departed  from  ;  cf.  v."'"  below.  —  The  insertion  of  O  Yahweh 
after  of  thee  (Bick.)  is  appropriate  but  not  necessary.  Deceit 
(RV.  vanity)  is  synonym  of  lyitig  (lit.  7vord  of  falsehood)  ;  see 
i/'  24*  144*  ".  Provide  me,  lit.  cause  me  to  secure.  The  food  I 
need,  lit.  the  bread  of  my  determined  (that  is,  proper)  portion; 
Reuss  :  my  sufficient  bread ;  De.  not  so  well :  the  bread  allotted 
me  (by  God)  —  llie  bread  is  of  coiuoc  allotted  by  God,  but  what 
the  petitioner  desires  is  that  necessary  provision  which  avoids 
extremes.*  Deny  {thee)  :  because  a  man  of  independent  means 
is  apt  to  forget  that  all  comes  from  God.  The  use  of  the  national 
name  Yahiveh  would  seem  unfavorable  to  the  supposition  that 
v.^-  *  are  by  the  same  author.  —  Profane,  lit.  lay  hold  of,  that  is, 
not  use  disrespectfully  (by  venting  discontent  on  God,  reproaching 
him  with  his  apparent  injustice),  but  bring  into  disrepute  (by 
stealing)  ;  cf.  Ez.  36-".  To  profane  is  to  make  common  (the 
opposite  of  sacred,  holy),  to  cause  (a  divine  person  or  a  sacred 
thing)  to  be  considered  unworthy  of  reverence.  — We  might 
expect  the  prayer  :  "  teach  me  to  use  both  poverty  and  riches 
aright "  ;  but  the  writer's  experience  and  observation  have  appar- 
ently impressed  him  with  the  dangers  of  both. 

10.  Against  speaking  ill  of  a  servant. 

Defame  not  a  servant  to  his  master, 

Lest  he  curse  thee,  and  thou  be  held  guilty. 

Single  sentence,  ternary-binary.  Defune,  lit.  wag  the  tongue 
against,  gossip  about.  If  the  defamation  be  false,  the  act  is 
slander  (so  \\i  loi^)  ;  here  it  seems  better  to  adopt  the  more  gen- 
eral sense,  since  slander  is  always  a  crime,  and  a  special  prohibi- 
tion in  the  case  of  a  servant  was  not  necessary.  The  proverb 
forbids  meddling  in  other  men's  household  arrangements.  —  The 
ground  of  the  warning  is  the  punishment  that  will  fall  on  the  med- 
dler. The  aggrieved  servant  will  curse  his  traducer,  and  the  curse 
will  certainly  affect  the  latter;  see  note  on  26I  The  verb  be  held 
guilty  (or,  be  guilty)  is  a  common  technical  term  of  the  later 
ritual  (Lev.  4"  Nu.'s''  al,  and  cf.  ^\l  s^"*"'  3421-22(22.23))  .    jt  occurs 

*  Cf.  the  Tov  kn<.o<i<ji.ov  of  Mt.  611  Lu.  ii^. 


526  PROVERBS 

only  here  in  Pr.,  but  the  corresponding  noun  is  found  in  14^  On 
servant  see  note  on  ii"''.  —  The  proverb  would  stand  more  natu- 
rally in  chs.  23.  24,  and  has  probably  been  misplaced  by  a  scribe, 
who  connected  its  curse  with  the  curse  of  v.".  Ewald  seeks  to 
bring  it  into  relation  with  the  preceding  context  by  rendering : 
incite  not  the  servant  [=  the  pious  man]  against  his  Lord  [=  Yah- 
weh],  but  the  translation  incite  is  doubtful,  and  the  sense  then 
given, to  second  cl.  ("the  pious  man,  when  he  perceives  the  error 
into  which  he  has  been  led,  curses  his  seducer  ")  is  improbable.* 

XXX.  The  section  30I-"  stands  in  <&  next  after  2422.  —  Some  MSS.  and 
printed  edd.  have  Nj^^  instead  of  np\  —  1.  (5  read  onpi  ij3  ijn  ''^3"\;  /jLeravdei 
may  be  explanatory  insertion  (in  which  case  |^  xcan  is  not  rendered),  or  may 
represent  some  form  of  nu'j.  —  |^  NlI'DH;  Si®  wAo  received  a  prophecy,  com- 
bining x'.;'D  with  DNj;  IL  visio,='^.  It  should  perh.  be  read  '?b'Dj  and 
regarded  as  a  gloss  on  ^131;  cf.  notes  on  31I.  —  J^  hnj  is  hardly  the  inflated 
expression  of  a  late  editor  who  wished  to  imitate  the  old  Prophetic  style.  — 
1^  n3jri  is  rendered  in  ^  by  and  he  was  strong,  =  "i33i.  —  Ginsb. :  "^n  inN  -iS. 
— 1§  '?3X  may  be  pointed  "^dn  (from  n'?3)  or  '7dn  (from  '?'?d)  or  {Ge.\g.  Ursckrift, 
p.  61)  '?3N  (from  '^3^  ;  Geig.  takes  it  as  interrog. :  how  could  J ?  Bick.  inserts 
i<h.  On  the  pointings  '?3.x  with  3  raphatum  (which  is  the  better  supported)  and 
S3X  see  De.  and  B-D.  —  3.  The  neg.  x'?  is  to  be  continued  into  '',  or  inserted 
in  the  text;  cf.  v.^*.  (§  ^eos,  =:  Ssi.  —  4.  |^  rjDn3;  (@  ej*  K6X-n-y,  =  ijin3. — 
?^  1J3;  (5  t4kvols  avTov.  —  For  ^  apn  Bi.  writes  rsp,  and  after  |^  in^^  inserts 
S«  h'j  ^'C'^"^*^)  as  introduction  to  the  following  questions.  —  8.  |^  'pn  cn'^,  for 
which,  in  Gen.  47'^^,  stands  simply  pn  (Frank.).  —  Bi.  converts  '^  into  a  couplet 
by  inserting  1  DflTJ  after  i3ni.  —  9.   |^  nini  -is;   (S  nin''  •'C. 

11-14.   Four  depraved  classes  of  men. 

11.  Men  who  curse  their  fathers, 
And  do  not  bless  their  mothers ! 

12.  Men  who  count  themselves  pure, 
Yet  are  not  cleansed  of  filthiness ! 

13.  Men  of  haughty  looks 
And  supercilious  bearing ! 

14.  Men  whose  teeth  are  swords, 

And  their  mouths  armed  with  knives ! 

In  the  last  verse  the  Heb.  adds  the  couplet : 

To  devour  the  poor  from  off  the  earth, 
And  the  needy  from  among  men. 

*  Cf.  the  similar  representation  in  Koran  1423--"  34:50-32. 


XXX.   IO-I4  52/ 

The  four  classes  are  the  unfilial,  the  self-righteous,  the  arrogant, 
and  the  rapacious.  —  As  the  text  stands,  each  couplet  is  the 
exclamatory  mention  of  a  class,  with  descriptive  relative  clause, 
but  without  predicate,  and  this  is  the  most  satisfactory  reading. 
Grk.  inserts  an  adj.  and  takes  the  verb  as  predicate  :  a  zvicked gen- 
eration curses  etc. ;  others  supply  the  substantive  verb  :  there  is  a 
generation  ivho  etc.  (RV.  «-/.),  or  take  the  first  noun  as  Voc.  :  O 
generation,  that  curses  etc.  (Ew.)  ;  the  reading  woe  to  the  genera- 
tion etc.  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  norm  of  the  chapter.  The 
couplets  appear  to  approach  the  rhythmical  norm  of  the  Heb. 
elegy,  as  if  the  writer  mingled  sadness  with  his  denunciation.  — 
11.  Lit.  :  a  generation  which  etc.,  the  word  generation  meaning 
not  a  genealogical  group,  or  a  mass  of  people  living  in  the  same 
age,  but  a  class  or  circle,  =  {certain^  jnen,  as  in  t//  24^.  —  On  the 
sin  referred  to  see  note  on  20-".  — 12.  Lit. :  a  generation  pure  in 
its  {ow7i)  eyes,  yet  frotn  its  filthiness  not  washed,  men  who  thought 
themselves  morally  good  because  they  observed  certain  conven- 
tional or  ritual  proprieties,  yet  at  heart  were  bad.  Cf.  20^  Mt. 
23-^-^,  The  term  filthiness,  or,  filth,  here  (and  in  Isa.  4^)  signify- 
ing moral  defilement,  is  used  in  a  physical  sense  in  2  K.  18-^ 
(=Isa.  36^2)  js3_  288  (cf.  Dt.  23i3(")  Ez.  4I2  Zech.  3''").— 
13.  Lit. :  a  generation,  how  lofty  are  their  eyes,  and  their  eyelids 
are  lifted  up!  Cf  Q^  i(/  131^.  — 14.  Lit.:  a  generation,  their 
teeth  are  swords,  and  their  teeth  knives.  The  Heb.  has  two  words 
(synonyms)  for  teeth;  the  second  (a  poetic  word,  Job  29^^  Joel 
i^  i/a  58''^''')  does  not  mean  faw-teeth  or  tnolars  (Grk.  RV.  «/.). — 
The  sin  denounced  is  unscrupulous  use  of  power  to  gain  one's 
ends  ;  the  figure  is  that  of  a  ravening  beast.  —  It  was  natural  that 
this  description  of  rapacity  should  be  interpreted  (as  in  the 
appended  couplet,  v."*''^),  by  a  scribe,  as  a  reference  to  oppres- 
sion of  the  poor.  But  the  addition  of  an  interpretation  is  not  the 
manner  of  the  numerical  groups  of  this  chapter;  the  aphorism  is 
supposed  to  carry  its  own  interpretation.  The  couplet  may  refer, 
in  general,  to  oppression  of  the  poor,  or  the  terms  poor  and  needy 
(which  are  synonyms)  may  =  Israel  (as  in  i/^  35^''  82'*  al.) ;  the  former 
interpretation  appears  to  be  favored  by  3i'-'-".  On  poor  and  tieedy 
see  notes  on  3**  14^^  —  The  whole  stanza  may  refer  to  Israelitish 
offenders,  or  to  rich  and  powerful  foreigners  (cf.  i/^  13.  14.  loi.  120. 
123  al.). 


528  PROVERBS 

Here  begins  the  series  of  tetrads  proper,  the  progressive  form 
of  numeration,  three  .  .  .  /our,  being  employed,  except  in  the 
group  in  v.^'*'-*.  V.^'^%  however,  stands  out  of  connection  with 
what  follows. 

IS^'.  Lit. :  Aluka  has  two  daughters,  give,  give.  The  word 
aluka  means  leech  in  Syr.  and  Late-Heb.  (and  the  Arab,  has 
nearly  the  same  form),  is  here  so  rendered  in  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  and 
is  so  understood  by  the  great  body  of  recent  expositors.  Allegor- 
ical interpretations,  such  as  the  Underworhi,  with  its  two  daughters. 
Paradise  and  Gehentia  {Midrash  of  Pss.  Rashi),  or  simply 
Gehenna  {Aboda  Zara  17  a.  Midr.  of  Pr.),  or  Nonentity  (Saad.), 
or  Wicked  Desire  (Calvin),  or  Greediness  (De,),  are  without  foun- 
dation. Nor  is  there  any  philological  ground  (Ew.  al.)  for 
regarding  the  word  as  the  name  of  a  bloodsucking  or  cannibal 
demon,  similar  to  Heb.  lilith,  Rom.  lamia,  Arab,  gul,  Hindoo 
vetala,  Egypt,  ka.  —  The  two  daughters  are  explained  as  the  two 
mouths  of  the  leech,  or  two  young  leeches,  or  paradise  and 
gehenna,  or  avarice  and  ambition,  or  two  sorts  of  nothingness  etc. 
There  is  a  difference  between  calling  a  hill  a  "  son  of  oil,"  that  is, 
"fruitful"  (Isa.  5^),  and  saying  not  "Sheol  etc.  are  daughters  of 
the  leech,"  but  "  the  leech  has  two  daughters."  The  double  give, 
give  is  regarded  by  some  as  giving  the  names  of  the  daughters,  by 
others  as  an  exclamation  or  cry  uttered  by  them :  daughters  \je.iho 
continually  cty  :'\  give,  give  I  —  Various  emendations  of  the  text 
have  been  proposed.  Ewald  :  the  bloodsucker  has  two  daughters, 
"  hither,  hither"  !  three  that  say :  '^  hither,  hither,  hither  the  blood! 
the  blood  of  the  bad  chiLV! ,  to  which  he  then  attaches  v.^^  De. 
supposes  a  triplet,  which  ran  :  the  Aluka  has  two  daughters ; 
Give  !  give  !  —  Sheol  and  the  barren  wo7nb  ;  there  are  three  that 
are  never  satisfied,  the  three  being  Aluka  and  her  two  daughters ; 
and  on  this,  he  suggests,  followed  a  quatrain  (of  which  only  a  part 
remains),  beginning  :  four  say  not  enough  (v.'^'').  Bickell  :  three 
things  are  not  satisfied;  four  say  not:  enough.'  Aluka  has  tivo 
daughters :  give,  give,  Sheol  and  the  womb,  and  the  rest  as  in  the 
Heb.  text.  These  reconstructions,  all  arbitrary,  are  called  forth 
by  the  desire  to  bring  v.^^"  into  logical  connection  with  the  follow- 
ing lines.      The  first  word  in  the  Heb.  has  also  been  taken  as  a 


XXX.  15-17  529 

title  :  By  Alukah,  which  adds  nothing  to  our  knowledge,  and, 
from  the  norm  of  the  chapter,  is  highly  improbable.  The  line  is 
a  fragment,  or  a  gloss,  whose  text  has  suffered,  so  that  the  original 
sense  is  no  longer  visible.  An  illustration  may  have  been  drawn 
from  the  habits  of  the  leech ;  the  persistency  of  the  animal,  in 
clinging  to  the  object  on  which  it  fastens  itself  till  it  is  glutted 
with  blood,  was  well  known  to  the  ancients  (Horace,  Ep.  ad  Pis. 
476).  —  The  remainder  of  the  paragraph  accords  with  the  norm 
of  the  following  groups  (characterized  by  three  .  .  .  four),  and 
obviously  forms  in  itself  a  complete  proverb. 

15^,  16.  Four  insatiable  things. 

I5<5.   Three  things  are  never  satisfied, 

Four  say  not :  "  Enough  "  : 
16.      Sheol;   the  barren  womb; 

The  earth  is  unsated  with  water; 

Fire  says  not :  "  Enough." 

In  v.^^  a  quatrain  (as  in  the  following  groups)  may  be  obtained  by 
expanding  first  line,  possibly  :  Sheol  is  never  satisfied  tvith  dead, 
the  barren  womb  never  sated  ivith  children.  Sheol  is  described  in 
27^°  as  never  satisfied  ;  cf.  Isa.  5"  Hab.  2^.  The  barren  womb  is 
lit.  the  closing  of  the  womb ;  cf.  Gen.  16-  30^  20^'*;  the  reference 
is  to  the  desire  of  a  childless  wife  for  children.  The  earth, 
desiring  to  be  fruitful,  is  always  thirsty ;  fire  ever  needs  fuel.  —  Cf. 
the  Indian  proverb  :  Fire  is  not  sated  ivith  wood,  nor  the  ocean 
with  the  streams,  nor  death  with  all  the  living,  nor  women  with 
men  {Hitopade^a  2,  113)  ;  and  an  Arab,  proverb  ( Frey tag /V^z;- 
erb.  Arab.  iii.  i.  p.  61),  in  a  long  list  of  triads  of  insatiable  things, 
has,  as  two  of  its  three  things,  wood  byfi?-e,  and  the  earth  by  rain. 
Whether  the  Heb.  and  Arab,  proverbs  can  be  traced  to  the  East 
is  uncertain.  —  Our  proverb  has  no  ethical  meaning  or  application  ; 
it  is  simply  a  record  of  observation,  which  may  broaden  the 
pupil's  knowledge  of  the  world. 

17.  Punishment  of  filial  disobedience. 

The  eye  that  mocks  a  father, 
And  scorns  <the  old  age  of>(?)  a  mother, 
The  ravens  of  the  valley  will  pick  it  out, 
And  vultures  will  eat  it. 


530  PROVERBS 

A  quatrain,  both  couplets  synonymous,  the  first  ternary,  the  sec- 
ond binary,  or  ternary-binary.  Tliis  serious  quatrain,  out  of  place 
in  a  string  of  satirical  and  descriptive  tetrads,  naturally  attaches 
itself  to  v.",  to  which  it  was  perhaps  added  as  commentary  or 
admonition.  — The  eye  is  named  as  the  organ  of  the  expression  of 
feeling  (cf.  Job  i6^  Ez.  28'^).  The  reading  old  age  is  from  the 
Grk. ;  the  word  of  the  Heb.  text,  now  commonly  rendered  obedi- 
ence, is  doubtful  in  form  and  meaning,  and  this  sense  is  here 
hardly  appropriate  —  the  proper  object  of  scorns  is  the  person  of 
the  mother.  The  raven  and  the  vulture  (so,  and  not  eagle,  the 
Heb.  is  probably  to  be  rendered)  picked  out  the  eyes  and  ate  the 
flesh  not  of  the  living,  but  of  the  dead  (i  S.  17*^  i  K.  14"  Jer.  16^ 
Ez.  29'  39^^).*  Disobedient  children  are  to  die  violent  deaths, 
their  bodies  are  to  lie  unburied  and  be  food  for  birds,  they  will  be 
honored  with  no  funeral  rites,  and  their  position  in  Sheol  will 
therefore  be  an  inferior  one.  The  verse  is  an  expression  of  the 
high  estimation  in  which  regard  for  parental  authority  was  held 
(cf.  23^^  Ex.  20^^). —  Valley  is  the  bed  of  a  water-course,  or  a 
depression  through  which  a  winter  stream  runs  (Arab.  wady). 
Vultures  is  Ht.  sons  of  the  vulture,  that  is,  not  "young  vultures" 
(RV.  young  eagles),  but  "  members  of  the  species  vulture,"  hke 
"  sons  of  the  prophets,"  =  members  of  prophetic  guilds,  and 
"  sons  of  the  Elohim,"  —  beings  of  the  Elohim  class.  —  The  verse 
is  by  some  regarded  as  a  polemic  against  Agur's  alleged  repudia- 
tion (v.^"^)  of  parental  instruction ;  but  of  this  there  is  no  hint  in 
the  text. 

18, 19.  Four  mysterious  things. 

18.  Three  things  are  beyond  my  ken, 
And  four  I  do  not  understand : 

19.  The  way  of  the  vulture  in  the  air; 
The  way  of  a  serpent  over  a  rock; 
The  vv'ay  of  a  ship  on  the  high  sea; 
And  the  way  of  a  man  with  a  woman. 

The  first  couplet  is  quaternary-ternary,  the  others  are  ternary.  — 
Beyond  ?ny  ken,  lit.  too  wotidetful  for  me,  or  wonderful  beyond  me. 

*  Cf.  /tiad  i.  4.  5  and  the  imprecations  es  KopaKa's,  pdw  is  xopaKa?,  Geier  refers 
to  Arist.  /lisf.  Animal,  c.  i,  and  Epictetus  :  ravetis  destroy  the  eyes  of  the  dead,  flat- 
terers the  souls  and  eyes  of  the  living. 


XXX.  I7-20 


531 


-It  is  held  by  many  expositors  (Mercer  a/.)  that  the  character- 
istic intended  hi  the  four  things  is  that  they  leave  no  trace  behmd  ; 
on  the  tracelessness  of  a  ship  and  a  bird  see  the  fine  passage  m 
Wisd  of  Sol    (5^"").      This  characteristic  holds  of  the  three  first 
cases',  but  hardly  of  the  fourth  ;  and  as  to  the  second,  there  would 
be  no  reason  for  particularizing  the  serpent,  since  no  trace  is  left 
on  a  rock  by  the  passage  of  any  animal.      The  pohu  is  rather  the 
wonderfulness  of  the  things  named  (Geier).    The  soanng  flight  of 
a  crreat  bird  (Job  Z9''''),  the  mysterious  movement  of  the  serpen  , 
performed  without  feet  (Gen.  3"),*  the  path  of  the  ship  through 
the  trackless  deep  (WS.  14^"^),!  and  the  procreation  of  a  human 
being   U  iW'-''  Eccl.  n^  excite  the  admiradon  of  the  wn  er. 
Apparendv  no  religious  sentiment  is  involved ;  the  stanza  is  rather 
a  lesson  in  natural  history  and  physics. -On  v.Uure  see  note  on 
v.".     On  the  high  sea  is  Ut.  in   the  heart  of  the  sea ;    C   2j^ 
Woman,  ^ro^crXy  young  woman  (Gen.  24^  Ex.  2«  Isa.  7    ^  68- 
Cant.  1^  6«),  married  (as  in  Isa.),  or  unmarried  (as  in  Gen.  t.x. 
yp  and  probably  in  Cant.).  X 

20  To  the  last  line  of  vP  an  annotator  has  added  a  prose 
explanation  :  So  is  the  way  of  an  adulteress :  she  eats  and  zvipcs 
her  mouth,  and  says:  - 1  have  done  nothing  wrong.  The  .«/.- 
and  wipes  her  mouth  is  a  humorous  figurative  expression  of  the 
woman's  non-moral  indifference.  The  annotation  misses  the 
point  of  the  aphorism  :  the  latter  is  concerned  with  the  wonderful- 
ness of  the  act,  the  former  with  the  supposed  moral  carelessness 
of  one  of  the  actors ;  the  gloss  assumes  that  the  young  woman  is 
unchaste.  On  adulteress  (lit.  adulterous  tuoman)  and  wrong  ct 
notes  on  6'''^-^^  lo'-^^  — The  v.  is  regarded  as  a  gloss  by  Hitz.  De. 
Reuss,  Strack,  Frank,  al. 

12  On  the  Mas.  change  of  nx.  to  n..  (as  if  from  s.^  see  Ge:g  Urschrift, 
p  410  -15.  The  section  so^^-^^  stands  in  (g  next  after  24^;  the  order  m 
^is  better.  ^  .^,,  i.or.  ^^  ^  s,ck  to  ;  ^f- Ass.  .7^/..  (De.)  -me  o  an 
rnimal.-?^   3n  an-    @  d7a^^<rec  aya^^fxeva^,  from  3n,  and  so  &  \:^^2^,  from 

*  The  Terusalem  Targum  inserts,  as  part  of  the  curse  :  thy  feef  shall  be  cutoff 
+  In  ;  io™-S  the  word  ./»^.  is  doubtful ;    or  the  first  cl.  may  be  an  mterpolanon  , 

the  second  cl.  connects  itself  immediately  w,th  v.^5 

+  That  the  term  does  not  mean  virgin  (RV.  m  Isa.  ana  <^ani.;        y 

as  certain. 


532  PROVERBS 

which  (or  from  |^)  ST  incorrectly  writes  pn^n?:,  burning  {—  destructive). — 

16.  1^  zr\-\  -\s;';  (g  epws  7ii^chk6s,  "\  being  taken  &s  —  woman  (cf.  Ju.  5^'', 
Inscript.  of  Mesha,  1.  17),  and  7  guessed  at  or  rendered  freely  (cf.  the  force 
of  isy  in  2  C.  14^'^  Dan.  lo^),  or  it  was  perhaps  not  in  (§'s  Heb.  text.  The 
word   should    perh.    be    omitted   (Bi.) ;     it   may   be    scribal    explanation.  — 

17.  1^  nnp',  elsewhere  only  in  Gen.  491",  on  which  cf.  Ball,  in  SBOT. 
On  the  form  see  De.  01s.  §  83  a,  Ges.-*^  §  20  h.  The  possibility  of  a  Heb. 
stem  Typ>  obey  seems  to  be  proved  by  Ass.  aku  (De.  IVbc/i.),  but  the  noun  nnpi 
is  doubtful.  It  was  not  understood  by  the  medieval  Jew.  commentators  (who 
generally  render  it  collection  or  weakness) ,  and  was  not  read  by  any  extant 
Anc.  Vrs.  (5  (and  so  SC  Rashi)  yrjpas,  =  njpr;  IL  partum.  The  rendering 
obedience  appears  to  have  been  first  proposed  by  Abu'l  Walid  (c.  A.c.  1000), 
from  Arab.  ipi,  but  is  here  inappropriate.  Read  njpT.  Bi.  further  inserts 
na''i:' before  as.  — 19.  f^  n::Sp;  (g  ev  ye6T7jTt,  =  rnSyj  (Lag.).  —  20.  J^  nnnn-i 
nis;   (5  airovi\j/aix^i'r]  =  |^.  —  Bi.  omits  '^;   but  the  whole  v.  is  a  gloss. 

21-23.  Four  intolerable  things. 

21.  Under  three  things  the  earth  totters, 
And  under  four  it  cannot  bear  up : 

22.  A  servant  when  he  becomes  a  king; 
A  fool  when  he  is  prosperous; 

23.  An  unwooed  woman  when  she  (at  last)  finds  a  husband; 
A  maidservant  when  she  is  heir  to  her  mistress. 

The  couplets  are  apparently  ternary.  The  tone  seems  to  be 
humorous  or  whimsical :  the  earth  is  said  to  ^o^fer  (or,  tremble) 
under  the  intolerable  burden  of  the  characters  named.  The 
expression  may  be  taken  (but  less  probably)  to  mean  that  by  the 
changes  of  fortune  here  described  the  moral  order  of  society  is 
subverted.  The  cases  cited  are  all  of  persons  of  relatively  infe- 
rior position  who  come  into  power,  and  the  intimation  appears  to 
be  that  they  are  then  excessively  pretentious,  arrogant,  and  dis- 
agreeable ;  it  is  hardly  probable  that  the  writer  was  so  bitter  a 
conservative  that  he  viewed  with  horror  any  departure  from  estab- 
lished rules.  The  examples  are  taken  equally  from  the  two  sexes. 
—  The  rendering y<7;',  on  account  of,  instead  oi  under,  is  weak  and 
not  quite  accurate.  The  word  servant  (or,  slave)  may  denote  an 
officer  of  high  rank  (like  Zimri,  i  K.  16^),  who,  however,  is  far 
beneath  a  king ;  such  sudden  elevations  have  always  been  com- 
mon in  Oriental  lands  (for  example,  the  Mamluk  [that  is.  Slave] 
dynasty  of  Egypt)  ;  see  notes  on  11^^  19^".  —  The  Vtxvc^fool  (Heb. 


XXX.  21-23  533 

nabal)  means,  in  the  early  narrative  literature,  a  person  of  low 
grade,  socially  (2  S.  3'^''),  or  intellectually  (ly'--'),  perhaps  also 
(cf.  I  S.  25^)  a  boorish  person  ;  in  Prophetic  writings  its  signifi- 
cation is  religious  and  ethical  (Dt.  32^  Ez.  13''  Isa.  32^-®),  in  the 
devotional  literature  it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  "ungodly"  (i//  iV 
al.)  ;  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  Wisdom  books  (Job  2'"  30*),  it 
appears  to  be  employed  in  the  intellectual  sense.  Is  prosperous, 
lit.  is  filled  (or,  satisfied^  with  bread,  =  is  wealthy.  —  Unwooed,  lit. 
hated,  that  is,  the  object  of  dislike,  or,  not  liked,  not  beloved 
(and  so,  nearly,  not  attractive)  ;  the  term  is  used  of  an  unloved 
wife  in  Gen.  29^^-^  Dt.  2i^^*'^-;  here  it  means  x\o\.  odious  (RV.), 
but  simply  unattractive,  unsought,  and  describes  a  woman  who 
has  long  remained  unmarried,  and  has  felt  the  disgrace  of  her 
position  (Hitzig).  The  couplet  supposes  a  society  in  which  a 
woman's  personal  attractiveness  entered  into  her  chances  of  mar- 
riage, in  which,  that  is,  there  was  freedom  of  choice  to  the  man  ; 
this  appears  to  have  been  the  case  in  old,  pre-monarchical,  Israel 
(Gen.  29^*^  Ju.  14^"^  I  S.  25^^),  and  in  the  Greek  period,  doubtless, 
considerable  freedom  existed.*  —  The  term  hated  is  by  some 
(Dathe  ^/.)  understood  to  mean  divorced  (Dt.  24^"*).  But  the 
word  never  has  this  sense.  Hatred  (that  is,  dislike)  on  the  part 
of  the  husband  was,  under  the  law,  a  ground  of  divorce,  but  the 
divorced  woman  is  never  called  simply  one  hated  (not  in  Isa. 
60'^).  Moreover,  a  divorced  woman  was  not  necessarily /^ri-(7«a 
ingrata  to  others  than  her  former  husband  ;  the  law  allowed  her  to 
marry  again,  and  such  a  second  marriage  would  be  looked  on  not 
as  subversive  of  order  or  offensive  to  the  common  sense  of  propri- 
ety, but  as  natural  and  proper.  Grk.  a  hated  woman,  if  she 
obtain  a  good  husband  appears  to  understand  the  term  as  =  dis- 
liked. —  Is  heir  to,  that  is,  inherits  property,  and  herself  becomes 
a  mistress.  The  verb  may  mean  supplants,  that  is,  gains  the  favor 
of  the  husband,  and  thus  becomes  the  real  mistress  of  the  house- 
hold. Between  these  two  senses  of  the  verb  it  is  not  easy  to 
choose,  but  both  give  the  same  general  meaning  for  the  clause.  — 
In  the  OT.  law  the  next  of  kin  inherits,  usually  the  son  (Dt.  21'', 
cf.  Gen.  21'"),  and  (in  the  late  legislation,  Nu.  27^''),  if  there  were 

*  Cf.  Moore,  Judges,  on  Ju.  j^^^- ;  Now.  Arch,  f  27. 


534  PROVERBS 

no  son,  the  daughter ;  in  late  times  a  man  or  woman  may  have 
had  the  legal  right  to  bequeath  property  at  pleasure  (cf.  Job  42^^). 
In  the  present  case,  if  the  rendering  is  heir  to  be  correct,  the 
property- holder  is  a  woman,  a  case  not  contemplated  in  the  OT. 
legislation  (in  Nu.  27^^  the  heiress  must  marry  a  man  of  her  own 
tribe,  who  then  becomes  the  owner  of  the  property),  nor  do  we 
know  what  the  property-rights  of  Israelitish  women  were  in  the 
fourth,  third,  and  second  centuries  B.C. ;  in  the  Roman  law  a 
woman  could  make  a  will,  and  this  freedom  had  not  improbably 
crept  into  Jewish  society.     See  note  on  1 7-.* 

24-28.  Four  things  little  but  wise. 

24.  Four  things  there  are,  small  in  the  earth, 
But  yet  exceedingly  clever  : 

25.  Ants  —  a  people  not  strong, 

Yet  they  prepare  their  food  in  summer; 

26.  Shaphans  —  a  people  not  mighty, 

But  they  make  their  houses  in  the  rocks; 

27.  Locusts  —  they  have  no  king, 
But  they  march  all  in  ranks; 

28.  Lizards  —  one  may  be  grasped  in  the  hands, 
Yet  are  they  in  kings'  palaces. 

Ternary.  Small  animals  which  show  contrivance  and  skill.  The 
proverb  is  simply  descriptive  of  the  habits  of  the  animals,  a  bit  of 
natural  history,  without  expressed  reference  to  human  life,  but  per- 
haps with  the  implied  suggestion  that  success  is  not  confined  to 
bigness;  cf.  Aristotle,  Hist.  Anim.,  cap.  i.  —  24.  The  number 
four  alone  is  given,  not  the  sequence  three  .  .  .  four ;  the  varia- 
tion is  possibly  purely  rhetorical,  the  predicates  in  the  two  lines 
being  antithetic,  not,  as  in  v.^^-  ^^-  -^-  -^,  synonymous.  —  Exceedingly 
clever,  lit.  wise,  endowed  with  wisdom;  Grk. :  wiser  than  the  wise. 
—  25.  See  note  on  d^.  The  word  people,  here  and  in  next  v., 
appears  to  refer  to  the  industrial  organization  of  the  animals  in 
question.  The  intimation  is  that  ants  lay  up  in  the  summer  their 
food  for  the  winter.  —  26.  The  shaphan,  as  is  now  agreed  by  nat- 
uralists, is  the  Syrian  hyrax,  a  small  pachyderm,  which  lives  in 
crevices  of  rocks. t     This  habit  (mentioned  here  and  in  <//  104^^) 

*  For  the  Talmudic  law  of  inheritance  see  Baba  Bathra  120  a  (cf.  Taanith  '^ob). 
t  See  Tristram,  in  Survey  of  West.  Pal. ;  Wood,  Bible  Animals. 


XXX.  23-30  535 

is  proof  that  it  is  not  a  "cony  (or,  coney),"  that  is,  rabbit.  It 
was  erroneously  supposed  (Lev.  ii'^  Dt.  14^)  to  chew  the  cud,  an 
inference  from  its  habit  of  moving  its  jaws  from  side  to  side.  — 
27.  March,  lit.  go  forth.  In  ranks,  —  in  orderly  array.  In  Joel 
I*  four  species  of  locusts  are  mentioned,  of  which  one  (Heb. 
arbeh)  is  the  sort  here  named  ;  a  vivid  description  of  their  war- 
like array  is  given  in  Joel  2  (cf.  Ju.  6^  Job  39™).  In  the  OT.  leg- 
islation locusts  are  "clean"  (Lev.  11^-,  cf.  Mk.  i*').*— 28.  The 
fourth  animal  is  probably  not  the  swallow  (Saad.  al.),  or  the  ape 
(Aben  Ezra  al.),  or  the  spider  (Levi,  Luther,  AV.),  but  the  lizard 
(Grk.  Lat.  and  modern  expositors  generally).  The  first  line  may 
be  translated  (RV.  al.)  :  the  lizard  seizes  with  its  hands,  but,  as  in 
the  other  couplets  the  first  line  refers  to  the  animal's  weakness,  it 
is  better  to  render  :  the  lizard  thou  ?nayest  grasp,  or,  by  a  change 
of  vowels,  ?nay  be  grasped.  The  form  given  above  :  lizards  etc., 
is  assimilated  to  that  of  the  preceding  couplets.  —  The  lizard's 
habit  of  running  over  the  walls  of  houses,  in  pursuit  of  food,  is 
well  known. 

29-31.   Four  stately  things.  —  Heb. : 

29.  Three  things  there  are  of  stately  step, 
Yea,  four  of  stately  gait : 

30.  The  lion,  mightiest  of  beasts  — 
He  turns  before  no  foe; 

31 ;   the  he-goat; 

A  king 

29.  Quaternary-ternary.  The  form  recurs  to  the  sequence  three 
.  .  .  four,  the  two  lines  of  this  couplet  being  synonymous.  The 
characteristic  fact  is  noble  carriage,  which,  in  the  case  of  the  lion, 
is  associated  with  power,  and  this  last  is  probably  to  be  under- 
stood in  the  others.  The  proverb  is  an  admiring  remark,  without 
moral  or  religious  suggestion.  Lit.  are  good  (or,  excellent)  in  step 
(or,  march),  and  are  good  in  gait  (or,  going).  Step  occurs  in  4^- 
5*  16^,  ^azVin  2^^4^- 15^^  —  30.  Synonymous,  ternary-binary.  Lit. 
a  mighty  one  among  beasts,  and  tu7'ns  not  back  before  anything. 
This  term  for  lion  is  found  elsewhere  only  in  Isa.  30®  Job  4"  (in 

*  See  Tristr.  Wood.    A  description  of  a  recent  invasion  of  locusts  is  given  by 
Thomson,  Land  and  Book,  ii.  102-108. 


536  PROVERBS 

the  last  passage  RV.  has  incorrectly  o/d  /io?i).  —  The  word  here 
used  for  beasts  commonly  signifies  domestic  animals  as  distin- 
guished from  wild  animals  (Gen.  i^^  Lev.  i'  \\i  148^°,  RV.  cattle), 
but  in  poetical  or  elevated  and  gnomic  style  is  sometimes 
employed  for  animals  in  general  (Ez.  8^"  Isa.  30"  al.).  —  31.  The 
couplet  enumerates  three  objects  (so  v.'"*  has  two  objects),  of 
which  only  one  is  clear.  The  first  expression  (omitted  above) 
appears  to  be  lit.  girded  (or,  girthed,  or,  compressed)  about  the 
loins,  and  has  been  understood  to  be  a  description  of  some  animal, 
as  cock  (so  all  the  Anc.  Vrss.,  except  Venet,  Grk.),  from  its  war- 
like strut,  or  eagle  (Saad.),  or  greyhound  (Ven.  Grk.  Luth.  RV. 
al.),  as  being  narrow  in  the  flanks,  or  zebra  (Ludolf),  from  its 
girding  stripes,  or  warhorse  (Ges,  Wild.  RV.  marg.  a/.),  as  accou- 
tred for  battle  (cf.  Job  39^^^).  Of  these  renderings  warhorse 
suits  best  in  respect  of  stateliness,  but  cock  has  the  best  ancient 
support.  If  this  sense  be  adopted  for  the  first  word  of  the 
expression,  a  change  in  the  following  word  gives  the  reading : 
the  cock  lifting  himself  up  (or,  holding  his  head  high),  or  the 
proudly  stepping  cock.  The  Grk.  fills  out  the  picture  :  the  cock 
marching  bravely  among  his  hens.  —  The  he-goat  is  the  leader 
of  the  flock  (Grk.  adds :  ivho  leads  the  flock).  Cf.  Dan.  8^ 
(where,  however,  the  Heb.  term  is  different).  —  The  last  clause 
reads  :  and  a  king  alkum  with  him  (or,  by  the  change  of  a  vowel, 
his  people),  in  which  the  word  alkum  is  unintelligible.  Grk.:  a 
king  who  harangues  a  people  (that  is,  stands  up  to  address  a 
nation)  ;  Lat. :  nor  is  there  a  king  who  can  resist  (=  stand  up 
against)  him  (that  is,  the  goat)  ;  Saad.  RV. :  the  king  against 
whom  there  is  no  rising  up.  These  renderings  are  all  grammat- 
ically impossible.  Others  (Gesen.  De.  al.)  take  alkum  as  pure 
Arabic,  and  render :  the  ki?ig  who  has  authority  to  call  out  the 
host ;  but  the  employment  of  a  foreign  term,  for  which  Heb.  had 
an  equivalent  (2  S.  20^),  is  improbable.  Lowenstein  :  King  Rest- 
less, that  is,  one  who  does  not  stand  still  or  pause  in  his  career  of 
conquest.  —  Failing  a  natural  sense  in  the  Heb.  expression,  emen- 
dation of  the  text  has  been  resorted  to.  As  the  Jews,  in  Tal- 
mudic  times,  sometimes,  to  avoid  profanation  of  the  divine  name 
Elohim,  substituted  a  k  for  its  //,  Hitzig  here  reads  :  a  king  with 
7vhom  God  is ;    but  the  religious  expression  is  out  of  place  in  this 


XXX.  30-33  537 

series  of  non-religious  tetrads.  Dys.  :  a  king  with  whom  are 
thousands ;  Bick.  :  .  .  .  who  stands  up  for  {^the  protection  of)  his 
people.  —  Hal^vy  (^Melanges,  p,  123)  regards  alkum  as  the  name 
of  an  Arabian  deity  {Kaum),  but  the  king  who  had  the  support 
of  Kaum  would  hardly  excite  the  admiration  of  an  old  Jewish 
gnomist.  Geiger  {Urschri/t,  pp.  61  ff.)  takes  it  to  be  the  anti- 
Maccabean  highpriest  Alcimus  (i  Mac.  f'"  g^-^*-^  Jos.  Ant.  12,  9, 
7  ;  12,  10,  6),  here  ironically  called  "king,"  a  title  to  which  he 
possibly  aspired ;  the  introduction  of  a  personal  name,  however, 
in  this  series  is  not  what  we  should  expect,  and  the  reference  to 
the  kifig  is  obviously  not  ironical,  but  serious.  We  can  only  sur- 
mise that  kittg  and  alkutn  are  corrupted  forms,  and  that  the  orig- 
inal text  referred  to  the  majestic  mien  and  movement  of  some 
animal. 

In  v.^^-^  the  tetradic  form  is  lacking,  and  the  expressions, 
though  quaint,  are  not  humorous  or  ironical.  In  the  present 
state  of  the  text  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  there  was  origi- 
nally (as  the  for  of  v.^  appears  to  suggest)  a  connection  between 
the  two  verses.  —  32.  Heb.  :  If  thou  .  .  .  in  exalting  thyself, 
and  if  thou  hast  planned — hand  to  mouth.  The  omitted  word  is 
usually  rendered  hast  acted  foolishly  (or,  art  foolish),  but  this 
sense  is  found  nowhere  else  in  OT.,  and  is  doubtful ;  the  transla- 
tion thought  evil  (RV.  al.)  for  planned  is  possible  only  when  the 
connection  shows  that  the  plan  is  evil.  Before  hand  the  verb  lay 
is  commonly  inserted.  The  sense  thus  obtained  is  :  "  if  thou 
exaltest  thyself  in  mere  folly  or  by  deliberate  plan,"  or,  "  if  thou 
art  foolish  in  exalting  thyself  or  in  planning,"  or,  "  if  thou  art  fool- 
ishly elated  and  plannest  evil,"  or,  "  if  thou  art  contemptible,  it  is 
by  boasting;  and  if  thou  art  wise  (=  plannest  well)  "  —  "then 
preserve  silence."  Taken  in  connection  with  what  follows,  the 
meaning  of  the  v.  would  be  that  silence  is  pacific ;  but  text  and 
sense  are  doubtful.  —  33.  For,  pressing  ?nilk  brings  out  ctird,  and 
pressing  the  nose  brings  out  blood,  and  pressing  anger  brings  out 
strife.  The  first  line  is  perh.  a  scribal  addition  ;  blood,  but  not 
curd,  is  allied  to  strife;  in  nose  (Heb.  ap)  and  anger  (Heb. 
appayim)  there  is  a  play  upon  words.  —  Curd,  or,  sour  milk  (not 
butter,  or,  cream),  is  produced  by  shaking  milk  in  a  vessel;  it  is 
a  refreshing  drink,  and  was  a  favorite  beverage  of  the  pastoral 


538  PROVERBS 

Israelites  (Ju.  5^'  Gen.  18^  Dt.  32"  2  S.  if'  Isa.  7'^  22  j^^^  ^^n^^ 
as  it  is  of  the  Bedawin  to-day,* 

23.  f^  uyn;  (g  eK/SdX];.  —  J^  "^JJ^n  ;  (5  Mv  ti^xt?  d^5p6s  dyadov. — 
26.  ^  D-'JD'f;  (5  x<"P07pi^^'^'oi,  hedgehogs;  SSC  Din,  probably  the  hyrax, 
Arab.  wrtiJr  (cf.  Payne-Smith,  7:4^5.  .S^r.);  IL  lepuscidus.  —  28.  Of  |§  a^io 
B'snn  (5  has  two  renderings:  x^/"''^'' ^P^'56yuevos  supports  itself  by  its  hands, 
reading  Piel  or  Qal;  and  €i)d\wTos  (Sii',  (f«jz7)'  /'a,^^«,  reading  Nifal.  —  31.  On 
the  post-Bibl.  Jew.  interpretation  of  inr  as  a  bird  of  the  raven  species  see  De. 
For  f^  3;jnD  we  might  read  najc,  which  would  suit  the  cock  or  the  horse,  hardly 
the  raven.  —  Arabic  itit  (or  irir)  is  starlitig ;  if  the  name  be  mimetic,  it  might 
have  been  applied  to  more  than  one  bird.  The  derivation  from  iix,  bind,  is 
improbable.  Cf.  3  Mac.  5^3.  —  '^'^  loy  3ip'^«<;  (5  57],ari'yopQv  iv  'idvei,  perhaps 
—  ^m  Vn  Dip  (Jag.),  less  probably  loyS  np  (Bi.),  better  7  Sx  op;  and  so 
substantially  S2C;  IL  «i?f  ^J^  rex  qui  resistat  «,  =  loy  Dp  nS  iSdi;  Hitz. 
D^nSs;  Dys.  a''s'7X.  The  n.  p.  Alcimus  is  written  DcpSs  in  the  great  bilingual 
Palmyrene  inscr.,  col.  2,  1.  28.  Dp'?N  might  be  corruption  of  ^px  (A.  S.  Wald- 
stein,  in  an  oral  communication),  though  wild  goat  (Dt.  14'')  would  be  very 
near  he-goat,  n'?D  may  be  corruption  of  ap'^x,  or  vice  versa.  For  |§  CTi  in 
read  tt'^ii.  —  32.  Everywhere  else  in  OT.  the  Qal  '?3j  =  fade,  languish  (on 
Job  14^8  and  1/'  iS^^  see  notes  of  Budde  and  Wellh.);  cf.  Ass.  nabdlu,  dry 
{land^,  and  nablu,  flatne  ;  in  Arab,  the  stem  has  the  sense  of  skill,  capacity. 
Whether  Qal  is  ever  denom.  may  be  doubtful;  it  is  so  taken  by  GSSCIL,  but 
their  rendering  may  be  a  guess.  What  Heb.  text  is  represented  by  ©  iav 
Trpdji  creavrbv  iv  exKppocrdvg  is  not  clear.  —  33.  Bi.  makes  a  quatrain  by  inserting 
after  first  ^o :   VDi  did  nst'  ihz;. 

XXXI.  1-9.  A  manual  for  kings  or  judges,  a  warning  against 
such  indulgence  of  appetite  as  might  hinder  the  execution  of 
justice.  The  Aramaizing  diction  suggests  a  late  date  (not  earlier 
than  second  century  b.c).  Cf.  the  aphorisms  in  \6^^^^  al.,  the 
national  religious  admonitions  of  Dt.  17^^"-",  the  theocratic  por- 
traiture in  Isa.  9''-^(^'^^  n^-^  32^"*  al.,  and  the  religious  tone  of 
WS.  1-9. 

1.  Superscription.  —  Heb.:  The  words  of  Lemuel,  a  khig,  the 
oracle  which  his  mother  tatight  hit?i ;  or  :  The  words  of  L.,  king 
of  Massa,  which  etc.  (or,  whose  mother  taught  him).  The  trans- 
lation .  .  .  of  king  L.  (RV.)  requires  a  change  in  the  text.     The 

♦See  Rob.  Res.  ii.  405;  Thomson,  Land  and  Book,  ii.  149;  Doughty,  Arab. 
Desert,  i.  263 ;  liovi.  Arch.  i.  113;  Moore,  Judges,  ou.  ]n.  ^^'t  Dnwtr,  Deui.,  on 
Dt.  32". 


XXX.  33-XXXI.  2  539 

rendering  oracle  is  out  of  the  question ;  see  note  (on  massa)  on 
30^  "Lemuel"  might  be  regarded  as  "king  of  Massa"  if  there 
were  any  good  ground  for  supposing  that  there  was  a  country 
Massa,  governed  by  a  king,  and  somehow  associated  with  wisdom 
and  learning ;  but  of  such  a  land  nothing  is  known.*  Nor  is 
there  any  reason  for  interpreting  the  name  Lemuel  (=  "to  God," 
that  is,  "devoted  to  God")  symbolically  (De.  a/.).  The  super- 
scription is  not  necessarily  by  the  author  of  the  manual ;  it  may 
be  from  the  hand  of  a  late  scribe,  representing  his  guess  at  the 
origin  of  the  counsel ;  the  word  king  may  be  scribal  insertion 
(Frank.),  or  Lemuel  may  have  been  introduced  from  a  corruption 
of  text  in  v.'*  (Bick.).  The  advice  is  not  inappropriately  put  into 
the  mouth  of  the  mother,  but  of  her  nothing  is  known,  and  her 
introduction  into  the  title  may  be  the  result  of  a  wrong  reading  of 
v.-.  —  On  taught  (=  set  in  the  right  way)  see  9^  19'*  29^'-  ^^ 

2-9.  The  counsel. 

2.  What,  my  son?  and  what,  son  whom  I  bore? 
And  what,  son  granted  to  my  vows? 

3.  Give  not  thy  strength  to  women. 

Nor  thy  heart  to  <  those  who '  destroy  kings. 

4.  It  is  not  for  kings  []  to  drink  wine, 
Nor  for  rulers  <  to  mix  >  strong  drink, 

5.  Lest,  drinking,  they  forget  the  law, 
And  disregard  the  rights  of  the  suffering. 

6.  Give  strong  drink  to  him  who  is  perishing, 
Wine  to  him  who  is  in  bitter  distress, 

7.  That,  drinking,  he  may  forget  his  poverty, 
And  think  of  his  misery  no  more. 

8.  Let  thy  decisions  be  >  true,' 
Uphold  the  rights  of  all  who  i  suffer  > ; 

9.  Pronounce  thy  judgments  with  equity, 
Maintain  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  the  needy. 

2.  If  the  text  be  correct,  the  repetition  expresses  earnestness, 
and  the  ivhat  refers  to  the  content  of  the  advice,  =  "  what  shall  I 
say  to  thee?"  But  the  form  of  expression  is  strange  and  doubt- 
ful ;  possibly,  taking  a  suggestion  from  the  Grk.,  we  should  read  : 

*  See  DiUm.  on  Gen.  2514,  De.  Paradies,  p.  302,  Ptol.  5,  19,  2. 


540  PROVERBS 

give  heed,  my  son,  to  my  sayings,  and  observe  my  words  (see  5^  7^ 
al.,  and  cf.  Frank.)  ;  the  speaker  will  then  be  the  sage.  —  The 
word  for  so?i  is  Aram.  On  vows  in  general  see  7^^*  20^  Eccl.  5*^^^ 
i/'  50",  and,  in  connection  with  prayer  for  a  son,  i  S.  i". — 
3.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Second  line  lit. :  nor  thy  ways  so  as 
(or,  in  order)  to  destroy  kings ;  the  change  of  a  vowel  gives  the 
reading  those  who  destroy,  as  the  parallelism  suggests  {women 
=  destroyers  of  kings)  ;  tliat  which  destroyeth  (RV.)  is  not 
allowed  by  the  Heb. ;  Targ. :  to  daughters  of  kings  ;  Syr. :  to  the 
food  of  kings  (against  luxurious  eating).  Ways  may  be  freely 
rendered  by  heajt,  or  the  text  may  be  changed  to  gain  this  sense, 
or,  by  another  emendation,  to  read  love.  Strength  apparently  =  vi- 
rility, not  luealth.  The  couplet  seems  to  be  directed  against  such 
debauchery  as  is  described  in  chs.  2.  5.  6.  7.  9.  —  4.  First  hne 
lit. :  be  it  710 1  to  {=far  be  it  from)  kings,  Lemuel,  be  it  not  to 
kings  to  drink  wine  ;  the  repetition  be  it  nat  to  kings,  though  rhe- 
torically intelligible  as  emphatic,  mars  the  rhythm,  and  is  proba- 
bly a  scribal  error,  and  the  Lemuel  also  appears  to  be  repetition 
of  a  part  of  the  preceding  word.  The  text  is,  however,  doubtful ; 
one  Grk.  reading  is  :  do  everything  prudently,  drink  wine  pru- 
dently. —  Second  line  lit. :  7ior  for  rulers  where  (or,  or)  strong 
drink,  in  which  where  is  probably  scribal  error  for  a  verb  mean- 
ing ynix  (Isa.  5^-),  or  one  meaning  drifik,  iiidulge  in  (Isa.  56^^). 
On  wine  and  strong  drink  see  notes  on  9-  20^  — 5.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  The  reason  for  the  preceding  warning.  The  verbs  in 
the  Heb.  are  sing.  ;  the  connection  (the  plu.  subjects  in  v.*) 
favors  the  plu.  The  laiu  is  the  civil  law  of  the  land.  On  suffer- 
ing (or,  poor,  or,  lowly)  see  note  on  3^*.  Dis7-egard  (RV.  per- 
vert) is  lit.  change.  —  6,  7.  Synonymous,  ternary.  Two  proper 
occasions  for  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks :  bodily  suffering  (from 
hunger  and  want)  and  mental  distress.  In  v.®**  lit.  :  to  those  who 
are  bitter  of  soul.  The  quatrain  is  symmetrical  —  v.*'"  is  explained 
by  v.^%  and  v.*""  by  v.^*".  V.''  is  parallel  to  v.^.  —  8.  Synonymous, 
ternary.  Lit. :  open  thy  mouth  for  the  dumb.  The  term  dumb,  if 
it  were  the  right  reading,  would  obviously  not  refer  to  physical 
incapacity  of  speech  (for  the  man,  in  that  case,  would  depend 
not  on  the  king,  but  on  his  nearest  friend  or  his  legal  representa- 
tive), but  would  mean  (as  is  commonly  understood)   "one  who. 


XXXI.  2-9  541 

from  poverty,  or  timidity,  or  some  such  cause,  is  unable  to  defend 
himself,  by  pleading,  against  his  oppressor."     This  sense  is,  how- 
ever, inappropriate  :    the  Oriental  man  or  woman   when  wronged, 
is  anything  but  -dumb"   (see,  for  ex.,  i  K.  3     •  2  K.  6      )- 
the  king  is  always  accessible ;   and  the  parallelism  suggests  a  term 
synonymous  with  the  equity  of  v.-  (v.-  is  parallel  to  v  -  and  v 
to  v  »^)      Read  :    open  thy  month  in  truth  (cf.  20^  29    ./^  45  M  > 
.,,  ^;,,^/,  ^  a,,ith  faithful  regard  for  justice."     Another  emenda- 
tion  (Bick.)   reads  for  the  widow,   but  this,  though  smiple  and 
attractive,  does  not  so  well  accord  with  the  parallelism.     All  who 
suffer  is  an  emendation  (Dys.)  of  the  Heb.  all  the  sons  of  the 
passin,-by,  interpreted  (but  without  ground)  to  mean  those  who 
disappear,  =  those  who  are  perishing  (Ew.  De.  al.),  or  those  who 
are  left  behind,  =  left  desolate  (RV.),  and  this  is  taken  to  mean 
orphans  (Noyes,  Bick.  Frank.)  and  other  persons  destitute  of 
protectors. -9.    Synonymous,  ternary.      Lit.:    open   thy  mouth, 
judge  justly,  and  judge  the  poor  and  the^  neecly.      On  equity  see 
note  on  i^  on  poor  and  needy,  notes  on  f*'  14'^ 

XXXI.   In  <@  the  section  31^-^  stands  just  before  M  2$;  the  date  and  cause 
of  the  dislocation  are  unknown.-l.    (S  had  i^D  n-^d  S?<  ^nV  >.?.  (Jag.)  — 
2    The  plus  of  (S  is  mainly  rhetorical  expansion,  though  np.ro^e.s  may 
-nb3  -3     m  l^^n;    (5  <r6.  ,rXoOro..-|l?   T^^'    ^ys-  T-^   (Cant.  7    ); 
p'ossibiy  we  sfould  read  ,..^-1^  n^n.^;   read  nKnS  (Ges.  B5tt.  Dys  .^ ; 
6  e.-.  Lepo^o.Uav,  =  p^n  W  (Lag.).-4.  The  second  D.^nS  S,  appears 
Tfrom  the  rhythm)  to  be  scribal  repetition,  and  Ss^n^  to  be  m.swrUmg  of  preced- 
ing DO^oS  (Bi.).-On  the  form  of  this  name  (Prep.  +  dwme  name)  cf^Gray, 
Heb.  Proper  Names,  p.  207,  where  similar  forms  are  given  (Heb.  ^x^,  Palmy- 
^ne  ^S  al.).   ^  -^  (Q  -0  -n  hardly  be  read  Ss  (as  (5  and  Saad.  seem  to  have 
unders  ood  it).     The  rendering  cupUrtas  (Schult.)  is  without  lex.cograph.cal 
support,  and  (to  say)  ^here  is  etc.  (Mich.  De.  RV.  ./)  is  forced  and  unnatu 
Read  ID.  or  .30.-©  ^o.X^s  supposes  ^^.  for  ^  u^   '^^'^"%?/: 
perhaps  =  V^S  for  ^  '^^^b^-SC  ./  ki.gs  take  care,  =  ^,  and  so  11"  noh 
le,Z  ,are-:^n..^  11^  ,ma  nuUun.  secretu,n  est  uH  ^^-^  ^^^^^J^ 
interpretation,  with  allusion  (Baumg.)  to  Aram.,,  secret-^.   1§  ^3  shou  W 
perhaps  be  omitted,  with  (5.-8.   ^  a^x;   (g  X67<.  ^eo.  (perhaps  =  nVr,wih 
the  divine  name  added),  which  Lag.  emends  to  MOT^XaX^  (see  Isa    35  )  > 
®  those  who  do  not  pervert  judgment,  free  rendering  from  the  connection,  the 
Tense  dumb  seeming  improbable;   S:  tke  ..ord  of  truth,  based.  Lag.  suggest 
on  a  Grk.  reading  X6y^  dX.^er  (a  corruption  of  ^07. XaX<,) -possibly 
represents  Heb.  nL.-Something  like  this  latter  should  be  read  as  par    lei 
to  P!  p..  in  v.«.     Bi.  n:.^s.-|i!  H  ^^^    better  n',  as  m  v.^-1^  T^n  >p. 


542  PROVERBS 

read,  with  Dys.,  ^"?n  '2  (see  Jer.  6'^  Eccl.  6^).  —  9.    Before  |^  \dsv  we  may 
insert  i  or  "7. 

10-31.  The  ideal  housewife.  —  This  description,  the  Alpha- 
betic Ode  or  "  Golden  ABC  "  of  the  perfect  wife,  is  notable  both 
for  what  it  includes  and  for  what  it  omits.  She  is  the  indus- 
trious, sagacious  business  manager  of  the  house,  a  kindhearted 
mistress,  the  trusted  friend  of  husband  and  children,  honored  in 
her  own  person  for  what  she  does  —  a  picture  not  romantic,  but 
also  not  "  Philistine."  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  is  said  of  intel- 
lectual interests  or  pursuits.  Nor  is  religion  mentioned  (see  note 
on  v.^°) ;  this  is  due  (as  in  ch.  30,  Esth.  Cant.)  to  the  fact  that  the 
author  is  concerned  with  something  else.  The  husband  takes  no 
part  in  the  domestic  administration  —  he  is  occupied  with  public 
affairs  (v.'^).*  —  The  alphabetic  structure  is  complete,  twenty-two 
letters  (as  in  if/  119).  This  arrangement  (found  in  the  Pss.  and 
other  late  writings),  mnemonically  useful,  is  often  rhetorically  bad, 
inducing  an  unnatural  diction  and  order  of  couplets  (see,  for  ex., 
V.-').     The  rhythmical  norm  is  ternary. 

10.  A  good  wife  who  can  find? 

Far  above  the  worth  of  corals  is  her  worth. 

11.  To  her  her  husband  trusts, 
And  has  no  lack  of  gain. 

12.  She  does  him  good  and  not  harm 
All  the  days  of  his  life. 

13.  She  gathers  wool  and  flax, 
And  works  it  up  as  she  will. 

14.  She  is  like  the  ships  of  the  merchant, 
From  afar  she  brings  her  food. 

15.  She  '••ises  while  it  is  still  night. 

And  gives  food  to  her  household.     [] 

16.  She  examines  a  field  and  buys  it. 

With  her  earnings  she  plants  a  vineyard. 

17.  She  girds  herself  with  strength, 
Makes  her  arms  strong  (for  work). 

18.  She  perceives  that  her  profit  is  good: 
Iler  lamp  goes  not  out  at  night. 

*  Cf.,  for  Egypt,  life,  Wilkinson,  ,-/«<:.  ££■.,  cli.  8,  Art.  S^ypt.  Lit,  in  Lib.  of 
World's  Best  Lit.,  and  for  Grk.  and  Rom.,  Becker,  Ckar.  and   Callus. 


XXXI.  IO-I2  543 

19-      She  lays  her  hand  on  the  distatT, 

Her  hand  grasps  the  spindle. 
20.      She  stretches  out  her  hand  to  the  poor, 

Extends  her  hand  to  the  needy. 

21  a.  She  fears  not  snow  for  her  household, 

22  a.  Coverlets  she  makes  her. 

22  b.    Her  clothing  is  linen  and  purple, 
21  /).    Her  household  are  clad  in  scarlet. 

23.  Her  husband  is  distinguished  in  the  council. 
When  he  sits  among  the  elders  of  the  land. 

24.  She  makes  linen  cloth  and  sells  it, 
Girdles  she  delivers  to  the  merchant. 

25.  Strength  and  honor  are  her  clothing, 
She  laughs  at  the  time  to  come. 

26.  Her  speech  is  full  of  wisdom, 

And  kindly  instruction  is  on  her  tongue. 

27.  She  looks  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household, 
She  eats  not  the  bread  of  idleness. 

28.  Her  children  congratulate  her, 

And  her  husband  praises  her  (saying)  : 

29.  "  Many  women  do  well. 

But  thou  excellest  them  all." 

30.  Beauty  is  deceitful,  and  comeliness  is  transitory, 
A  woman  <■  of  intelligence,'  she  will  have  praise. 

31.  Give  her  credit  for  what  her  hands  have  wrought! 
Let  her  works  praise  her  among  the  people  ! 

10-12.  First  stanza  :  praise  in  general  terms.  —  10.  On  the  ren- 
dering good  wife  see  note  on  \2^ ;  on  corals,  note  on  3'^.  Tlie 
sense  is:  "a  good  wife  is  not  easily  found,  but,  when  she  is  found, 
she  is  of  inestimable  value."  — 11.  Lit. :  the  mind  (Ut.  heart)  of 
her  husband ;  the  reference  is  not  to  the  husband's  affection,  but 
to  his  confidence  in  her  capacity  as  manager  of  household  affairs, 
—  The  second  line  is  ambigugus  —  lit.  spoil  (or,  outcome)  is  not 
lacking,  in  which  we  may  supply  to  her  (Grk.),  or  to  him  (Lit.), 
"or  to  the  household  (E\v.)  ;  probably,  from  the  connection,  to  him, 
as  representative  of  the  househoUl.  —  ^z!*^// everywhere  else  in  OT. 
means  "booty  taken  in  war"  ;  the  more  general  sense  acquisition, 
gain  appears  in  the  verb  {KM.  pull  Oui)  in  Ru.  2^".  The  military 
term  came  to  be  employed  in  a  peaceful  sense.  — 12.   The  good 


544  PROVERBS 

and  har7n  refer,  according  to  the  connection,  to  the  general 
(more  particularly,  the  financial)  prosperity  of  the  household.  — 
13-15.  Second  stanza  :  the  industrial  pursuits  of  the  household. 
— 13.  Gathers,  lit.  seeks.  On  wool  and  flax  as  industrial  prod- 
ucts see  Hos.  2^-^^''-"^  Jos.  2^  Dt.  22";  the  preparation  of  cloths 
and  garments  from  this  material  was  the  work  of  women.*  —  Sec- 
ond line  lit. :  and  she  works  m  (or,  according  to)  the  pleasure  of 
her  hands  —  she  works  up  the  raw  material  into  such  forms  (of 
garments,  girdles  etc.)  as  seems  to  her  best.  The  interpretation 
tmth  her  hands''  pleasure,  —  willingly,  cheerfully,  diligently  (Ew. 
RV.  ^/.),  involving  a  personification  of  the  hands,  is  unnatural  (it 
is  not  supported  by  t//  78''-).  Hitzig's  rendering  :  she  -ivorks  in  the 
business  of  her  hands  (cf.  Isa.  58"'  Eccl.  3^-^''  al.)  is  allowable,  but 
the  statement  has  no  special  connection  with  first  line.  —  14.  She 
does  not  rely  solely  on  local  supplies,  but  from  all  quarters  pro- 
vides maintenance  for  her  household.  — 15.  In  the  Heb.  the  v.  is 
a  triplet,  but  it  seems  probable  that  the  third  line  and  portio7is  to 
her  niaidetis  is  a  gloss,  a  repetition  or  explanation  of  second  Hne. 
Portion,  from  the  parallelism,  =food  (30*  Gen.  47"  Ez.  16"'^),  not 
"appointed  work"  (RV.  task).  Bickell  omits  first  line,  but  it 
would  then  be  hard  to  account  for  its  presence  in  the  text.  — 
Food,  as  in  i/'  III'  (cf.  Mai.  3^"  Job  24')  ;  the  Heb.  word  usually 
means  prey.  — 16-18.  Third  stanza :  the  housewife's  financial 
enterprise.  — 16.  Examines  (RV.  considers)  (see  30'^-)  =  reflects 
on,  that  is,  examines  from  a  business  point  of  view.  —  Buys,  lit^ 
takes,  gets  possession  of  (see  Neh.  5^) .  One  might  almost  say  : 
"she  speculates  in  land"  (Frank.).  Bick.,  not  so  well:  Consid- 
ers .  .  .  in  order  to  buy  it.  —  Plants  is  the  reading  of  the  Heb. 
margin;  the  text  has  :  [considers]  /Vii?//a;///;/^  ^  etc.  Her  earn- 
ifigs  is  lit. :  the  fruit  of  her  hands.  —  The  culture  of  the  vine  was, 
and  is,  an  important  industry  in  Palestine  (see  24^"  Ju.  9-^  Neh.  5^ 
al.).  — 17.  Lit.:  she  girds  her  loins  with  strength,  that  is,  proba- 
bly, not  strongly  (Grk.),  but,  by  a  figure,  with  strength  as  a  girdle ; 
the  gathering  up  the  robe  with  a  girdle  was  a  necessary  prepara- 
tion for  serious  work    (2   K.  4-^).  —  The  expression  for  work. 


*  See  Schroder,  De  vestitii  Mul.  Hebr.  ;    Hartmann,  Die  Hebraerin  etc.;    H. 
Weiss,  Kostumkunde  ;    Palmer,  Desert  of  the  Exodus,  p.  74. 


XXXI.    12-21 


545 


added  above,  is  obviously  implied. — 18.  The  verb  here  rendered 
perceives  means  generally  taste,  physically  (i  S.  14-^  Job  12"  al.), 
and  so,  by  natural  transference  from  the  physical  to  the  intellect- 
ual (like  Lat.  sentire),  perceive ;  the  transition  of  meaning  is  vis- 
ible in  i/f  34*<"* :  taste  (=  find  out  by  trial)  and  see  (=  become 
convinced)  that  Yahwch  is  good.  So  here  the  housewife  learns 
by  trial  that  her  work  is  bringing  pecuniary  profit,  and  this  state- 
ment is  repeated  and  expanded  in  second  line,  the  meaning  of 
which  is  not :  "she  is  indefatigable  in  work,"  but  (Wild.)  :  "her 
house  is  prosperous."  In  a  well-ordered  house  the  lamp  burned 
all  night  as  a  sign  of  life  (see  note  on  13^)  ;  its  extinction  marked 
calamity  (Jer.  25^"  Job  i8«).*  — 19,  20,  21a,  22a.  Fourth  stanza  : 
her  provision  for  her  household  and  for  the  poor.  —  19.  Lays  on 
is  lit.  stretches  out  to.  The  translation  on  the  distaff  is  inferred 
from  the  connection.  The  Anc.  Vrss.  (except,  perh.,  Targ.) 
understand  the  expression  as  adverbial:  Grk.  to  useful  things; 
Lat.  to  strong  things ;  Aq.  Sym.  Th.  Syr.  strenuously.  —  20.  This 
couplet  belongs,  by  its  contents,  with  v.^-  ^*^ ;  it  was  placed  here 
perh.  because  the  phrase  stretches  occurs  in  v.^''.  —  21.  On  the 
occurrence  of  snow  in  Palestine  see  notes  on  25'^  26^  —  As  the 
text  is  arranged  the  reading  of  the  Heb.  (v.-"")  are  clothed  in 
scarlet  is  improbable.  The  connection  calls  for  the  mention  of 
some  warm  sort  of  clothing ;  a  scarlet  robe,  though  made  of  wool- 
len material,  was  not  necessarily  warm  enough  for  winter  —  and, 
if  it  were,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  writer  would  use  this  term  instead 
of  saying  direcdy  that  the  clothing  was  warm.f  If  the  Heb. 
order  of  lines  be  retained,  we  might  change  the  text  so  as  to  get 
the  meaning  warmly.  But  it  is  easier  to  change  the  order  of 
lines  as  above.  According  to  this  arrangement  the  coverlets 
(v.^-*)  are  the  protection  against  the  cold,  and  the  colored  gar- 
ments come  together  in  one  couplet.  —  Lat.  (followed  by  AV. 
marg.)  improbably:  clothed  in  double  garments.  —  22a.  Qn  cover- 
lets see  note  on  7'^ 


*  Cf.  Now.,  Arch.,  p.  144 ;  Benzinger,  Arch.,  p.  124. 

t  Scarlet  robes  were  articles  of  luxury  and  magnificence  (Ex.  25*  2  S.  i24  Jer. 
430,  cf.  Lam.  4^).  On  the  cochineal  insect,  from  which  the  coloring  matter  was 
obtained,  cf.  Rawl.,  Phoen.,  ch.  8. 


546  PROVERBS 

The  section  3ii''-3i  stands  in  (5  next  after  |t?  29. — 16.  K  T-iJ;  read  Q  nro:. 
Ei.  retains  K,  and  omits  the  connective  -  in  |^  ini  v.  — 18.  The  K  """',  poeti- 
cal form  (Isa.  16^  Lam.  2^),  may  be  retained;   Q  gives  the  usual  form  .T^'*^. 

—  19.  1^  T  '^"''?;  <S  (followed  by  S)  fTt  to,  av/jLcpipovTa,  =  'Mff'^z  (Lag.  r^^jj), 
see  ^  68',  and  cf.  Esth.  8^  Eccl.  10'°  2-1  a/.;  AS0  dvdpeig.,  and  %  ad  fortia, 
from  -\tp  or  ncr,  or  perh.  =  (@;  ST  ■s-iS'jj  (so  ed.  Ven.  of  1568,  Lag.),  written 
also  N-i:'n3  (Buxt.)  or  N-\.rjD3  (MS.  of  A.c.  1238);  the  second  form  (of  which 
the  third  is  a  variation)  is  a  rendering  of  f^  vd  navel  in  3*,  and  is  not  elsewhere 
found  in  any  other  sense  (Levy's  rendering  dislctff  is  a  mere  conjecture) ;  the 
first  form  is  repetition  or  transference  of  the  word  of  ^,  and  its  meaning  is 
unknown  (it  can  be  only  guessed  to  be  =  distaff');  comparison  of  the  stem 
ij'j  as  probably  =  straight,  and  of  Targ.  and  lalm.  -iji  beam  makes  it  proba- 
ble that  the  word  in  ©  and  in  |§  =  distaff,  which  sense  is  suggested  by  the 
correspondent  |^  i;;t  spindle.  Erank.  emends  to  Talmud,  ru  spindle  {Shab. 
Mishna  17,  see  Buxt.  Lex.),  but  it  seems  more  likely  here  that  the  expression 
would  be  varied;   possibly,  however,  :'ij  and  i'^d  are  not  exactly  synonymous. 

—  21.  1^  :\iu";  (5  Stffo-aj,  which  it  makes  the  beginning  of  v.-*;  "^  duplicibus ; 
hence  it  has  been  proposed  to  emend  PJ  to  c^ju",  which,  however,  is  lexico- 
graphically improbable,  and  the  emendation  ch'?  for  warmth  (Hag.  i^)  is 
graphically  hard.  The  change  in  the  order  of  the  lines,  as  given  above, 
appears  to  remove  the  diiificulty  in  the  interpretation  of  |^. 

—  22^,  21'',  23,  24.  Fifth  stanza  :  the  distinction  which  she  gains 
by  her  industry.  —  22''.  The  term  here  rendered  linejt  (RV.  fine 
linen)  signifies  some  fine  material,  made  of  flax  or  of  a  mixture  of 
flax  and  cotton,  and  was  probably  an  Egyptian  product  (Gen. 
41*-  Ez.  i6'"-'^  27^  Ex.  25-39).  —  The  purple  coloring  matter  was 
obtained  from  a  Mediterranean  shellfish  {i?iu?rx,  or  purpura), 
and  its  preparation  was  an  important  Phoenician  industry  (Rawl., 
Plioen.,  ch.  8).  Garments  dyed  with  it  indicated  wealth  or  high 
rank  (Ju.  8"''  Jer.  10^  Ex.  25-39  Cant.  3^°).  —  The  housewife's 
wardrobe  is  costly  and  luxurious.  —  2\!°.  See  above,  under  v.-\  — 
23.  Distinguished,  lit.  known,  a  prominent  well-known  man.  — 
Council,  lit.  gntes,  the  place  of  assembly  of  the  elders  of  the  city ; 
see  notes  on  i-'  24'.  The  old-Israelitish  government  by  "elders" 
(somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  old-Aryan  village*)  appears  to 
have  continued  to  a  late  period  (Ju.  8'*  ii^t/'  107'^- Joel  i"). — 
The  husband  thus  derives  civil  benefit  from  his  wife's  reputation 

—  it  is  assumed  by  the  people  that  the  head  of  so  well-ordered  a 
household  must  be  a  worthy  man,  though  it  is  probably  not  his 

*  Cf.  the  Saxon  ■witeuagemot  and  the  New  England  town-meeting. 


XXXI.  21-27  547 

dress  (as  v."  might  suggest)  that  gives  him  distinction.  The 
order  of  couplets  is  not  good.  —  24.  The ////<?//  cloth  (a  different 
term  from  the  linen  of  v.-)  was  some  fine  fabric,  the  precise 
nature  of  which  is  not  known,  though  it  may  be  inferred  from  the 
ancient  Jewish  authorities  that  its  material  was  linen.  What  the 
housewife  made  and  sold  was  probably  a  square  piece  of  cloth 
that  could  be  used  as  an  outer  garment  or  as  a  night-dress.  The 
term  occurs  elsewhere  in  OT.  only  in  Ju.  14'--^^  Isa.  3-";  cf.  Mk. 
14'"  {sintlon)  Herod.  2,  86  al.  'Y\\t  girdle  was  probably  of  simi- 
lar material  (Jer.  13'  Ez.  16^")  ;  for  the  various  sorts  of  girdle  see 
the  Bib.  Diets.  The  weaving  of  fine  material  appears  to  have 
been  a  Palestinian  industry  from  a  comparatively  early  period. — 
Delivers,  lit.  gives,  that  is,  in  exchange  for  money  or  for  other 
articles;  cf.  Tob.  2".  —  Merchant,  lit.  Canaanite,  that  is,  here, 
Phoenician.  From  the  commercial  character  of  the  Canaanites 
the  name  came  to  be  used  as  =  merchant  (Zech.  14-^  Job 
41'' [40^"],  cf.  Hos.  12''*^  Isa.  23^  Zeph.  i"  Ez.  17^).  Later  the 
commerce  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  Tyrians  ;  and  it  would 
appear  that  trade  between  Israelites  and  Phoenicians  began  as 
early  as  the  tenth  century  B.C.*  —  25-27.  Sixth  stanza  :  her  wis- 
dom and  prosperity.  —  25.  The  strength  and  honor  which  she 
enjoys  come  from  her  firm  financial  and  social  position.  She  is 
so  well  established  that  she  laughs  at  the  future,  is  without  anxiety. 
—  In  v.^'  the  strength  is  physical,  here  it  is  social.  —  26.  Her  wis- 
dom is  common  sense,  good  judgment,  discretion.  Kindly 
instruction  is  lit.  instruction  of  kindness  {RY.  Ia7c/  0/  kindness), 
instruction,  to  her  children,  servants,  and  friends,  which  springs 
from  a  kindly,  friendly  nature  :  though  firm  in  her  administration, 
as  becomes  a  business  woman,  she  is  not  domineering  or  harsh. 
The  interpretation :  "  instruction  in  the  duty  of  kindness  to 
others"  does  not  so  well  suit  the  connection,  which  rather  marks 
the  kindness  as  a  quality  of  the  woman  herself.  —  The  first  line  is 
lit.:  she  opens  her  mouth  in  (or,  witli)  wisdom.  —  On  kindness 
see  notes  on  3''  1 1'\  —  27.  Looks  well  to  —  acts  as  watchman  for 
(15^  2  8.  1 8-*  Ez.  3"  x^i  37'^-)-  —  ^^%-^  =  "  conduct,  doings  "  ;  she 
supervises  all   that  goes  on.  —  This  couplet  would  stand    more 

*  On  Phoen.  commerce  see  RavvL,  Phoeti.;  Now.,  Arch.,  \  44. 


548  PROVERBS 

properly  next  after  v.^*.  —  28,  29.  Seventh  stanza  :  her  merits  are 
recognized  by  her  family.  —  28.  Lit.:  her  children  rise  up  and 
call  her  happy — her  husband  [rises  up]  and  praises  her.  She 
has  the  praise  of  her  own  immediate  circle,  those  who  know  her 
best.  —  Bick.  inverts  the  order  of  lines  of  the  couplet,  but  the  lan- 
guage of  v.^  is  more  appropriate  for  the  husband  than  for  the 
children.  —  Frank. :  Her  so?is  prosper,  thei-efoj-e  people  congratu- 
late her — her  husband,  therefore  people  praise  her.  This  sense  is 
in  itself  appropriate  —  the  community  congratulating  a  woman  on 
the  success  of  her  husband  and  sons  —  except  that  it  seems  to 
give  her  all  the  credit  for  their  good  performance.  But  the  Heb. 
hardly  permits  this  interpretation  :  the  verb  7-ise  up  cannot  mean 
prosper  (the  rise  to  power  in  28''  is  different),  and  the  supplying 
people  (that  is,  they)  as  the  subject  of  the  other  verbs  is  very 
doubtful,  if  not  quite  out  of  the  question.  For  the  verb  call 
happy  see  Mai.  3'--^°  \\i  72^^  Gen.  30";  the  rise  up  describes  the 
movement   preparatory   to   a   formal   utterance    (Gen.    37^). — 

29.  Lit. :  many  daughters  do  etc.  The  use  of  the  word  daughter 
as  =  woman  (only  here  and  Cant.  2"  6^)  is  a  survival  (found  only 
in  poetry)  from  the  time  when  the  woman,  even  after  marriage, 
remained  always  a  member  of  her  father's  family,  and  was  defined 
as  his  "daughter."  —  /^F^// represents  the  same  Heb.  word  a.?,  good 
in  v.^°,  =  "  vigorously,  effectively,  admirably."  —  These  words  of 
praise  are  obviously  uttered  by  the  husband  as  the  spokesman  of 
the  family ;  the  writer  speaks  of  his  heroine  in  the  third  person. 
—  30,  31.    Eighth  stanza  :    laudatory  summing-up  by  the  poet. — 

30.  The  author's  point  of  view  :  what  he  values  in  a  wife  is 
domestic  efficiency.  He  need  not  be  understood  as  despising 
beauty  —  he  says  only  that  it  is  transitory,  while  intelligence  is  a 
lasting  source  of  domestic  happiness.  —  On  beauty  and  comelifiess 
(here  synonyms)  see  notes  on  i^  11^®  6^.  The  two  adjs.,  also, 
deceitful  (lit.  deceit,  see  6"  al.)  and  transitory  (lit.  a  breath,  a 
nothing,  see  13")  are  probably  meant  as  synon.yms  :  beauty  is 
said  to  be  deceitful  because  it  passes  away,  and  with  it  passes  the 
hope  of  happiness  based  on  it.  The  meaning  may,  however,  be  : 
he  who  judges  a  woman  merely  by  her  beauty  may  be  disap- 
pointed in  her  character.  —  The  second  line  reads  in  the  Heb. : 
a  woman  who  fears  Yahweh,  she  etc.     But  this,  while  a  sentiment 


XXXI.  28-31  549 

natural  in  itself,  is  improbable  in  the  connection  :  the  ode  else- 
where makes  no  reference  to  religion,  confining  itself  to  a  por- 
traiture of  the  woman's  domestic  ability ;  in  the  second  line  of 
this  couplet  the  verb /nj'/j'i?  obviously  contemplates  the  same  char- 
acteristic (namely,  housewifely  skill)  that  the  same  verb  in  v.-* 
has  in  view,  and,  from  the  tenor  of  the  ode,  the  contrast  to  beauty 
is  not  piety,  but  ititcliigence,  thrift,  administrative  capacity',  indus- 
try ;  in  accordance  with  this  view  v.^^  refers  solely  to  her  industrial 
achievement.  Following  a  Grk.  text,  we  may  read  of  intelligence 
instead  of  who  fears  Yahweh  ;  the  latter  reading  may  be  the  cor- 
rection of  a  scribe  who  thought  that  a  poem  describing  the  ideal 
woman  should  not  fail  to  mention  piety  as  an  element  of  her  char- 
acter.—  31.  Lit.  :  give  her  of  the  fruit  of  her  hands,  that  is,  as 
second  line  indicates,  let  her  have  recognition  and  credit  for  her 
industry  and  skill  —  such  ability  as  hers  deserves  general  praise. 
The  woman  is  regarded  by  the  author  as  an  independent  individ- 
ual, not  merely  as  an  appendage  to  her  husband.  The  expression 
perhaps  contains  an  intimation  that  women,  by  reason  of  the  pri- 
vacy of  their  Hfe,  did  not  always  get  public  credit  for  their  admin- 
istrative ability  or  for  the  important  part  they  played  in  securing 
the  well-being  of  the  family. — Among  the  people  is  lit.  in  the  gates, 
the  place  where  the  people  gathered  and  talked  over  the  affairs  of 
the  community  ;  see  note  on  v.-^. 

24.  1^  I'l-iD;  ^  aLv^bva%  {{QViO-^&A\y^%  sindoiieni)  imislin  garments.  In 
Targ.  (Lam.  2^*^22  ^  104-)  po  signifies  an  enveloping  cloth  or  garment,  and 
it  is  used  in  Talmud  for  any  covering  for  day  or  for  night  (Kimchi  nightdress)  ; 
of.  Ass.  sudinnu,  ga7-inent  (in  De.  Ass.  Wbch.),  and  Arab,  sidn,  =  a  curtain, 
whence  sddin,  nirtain-keeper  or  doorkeeper  (to  the  Kaaba  or  any  shrine). 
See  notes  of  Geier,  Mich.  De.  on  this  v.,  Moore  on  Ju.  14'--  ^^  Cheyne  and 
Davidson  on  Isa.  3-3.  —  Grk.  aiv^iliv  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Sem.  word. 
Herod,  uses  it  of  a  cloth  through  which  the  Babylonians  sifted  pounded  fish 
(i,  200),  of  a  similar  material  in  which  the  Egyptians  wrapped  the  bodies  of 
their  dead  (2,  86),  and  of  bandages  which  the  Persians  used  for  the  wounded 
(7,  181).  To  the  derivation  from  Sindhu  (the  Indus)  the  objection  lies 
(Schrader,  Forsch.  zu  Handelsgesch.,  I.  199  ff.)  that  the  old  Grk.  name  for  the 
Indus  was  not  <nvhb's,  but  lvU%  (from  the  Eranian  form) ;  and  no  appropriate 
Egypt,  etymology  has  been  proposed.  If  the  sense  garment  for  Ass.  sudinnu 
be  correct,  the  Heb.  word  is  undoubtedly  Semitic,  and  from  such  a  form  the 
Grk.  could  come  by  the  insertion  of  n;  the  w  of  the  Grk.  perhaps  points  to  a 
form  Sudan  or  sudon.     Syr.  xj-'D  appears  to  be  a  loan-word  from  the  Grk., 


5  50  PROVERBS 

influenced,  perhaps,  by  the  Heb.  form.  No  verb  pD  occurs  in  Semitic,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  stem  is  unknown.  See  Bochart,  Phaleg,  col.  751,  and 
H.  Lewy,  Sevi.  Freindwort.  im  Griech.,  p.  84.  —  25.  ?§  jons-  Bi.,  unnecessa- 
rily :n.Tj  the  vtorroiu.  —  In  (S  v.-^  follows  v.-''  (of  |^),  the  order  of  letters 
being  thus  Pe  .  .  .  Ayin,  as  in  Lam.  2.  3.  4  (the  order  in  \p  10  Nah.  i""!",  cited 
by  Bi.,  is  uncertain) ;  this  arrangement  may  indicate  an  early  variation  in  the 
order  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet.*  —  In  the  Sahidic  Vrs.  the  order  of  lines 
is:  v.25a.  27b.  a.  25b.  26a.  b,  —  £6.  |^  "DH  n-\- ;  (S  Tct^.K  iffTelXaTO,  perh.  =  in 
•]fn  -I.  —  27.  K  pijVin  is  scribal  error  for  Q  niDi*?.-!.  —  (g  adds  the  greater  part 
of  v.2j;  see  also  (g's  addition  at  3^''.  —  30.  J^  mni  nx-\''  nuw,  for  which  (g  has 
the  doublet  ywrj  avverTj  and  ^6^ov  Kvplov;  the  former  appears  to  be  the 
original  reading,  since  it  would  be  less  easy  to  account  for  its  introduction  by 
ascribe;  read  nr3  rc'.s  (cf.  30'-)  or  nj'^j  nys  (cf.  i^).  —  31.  (§  x^'^^wv,  for 
^  T'T,  should  probably  be  emended  to  x^'-P'^"  (so  Si",  Compl.).  —  |^  '^'■^7?; 
(@  6  dvTjp  aiiTTjs,  =  n^i'n  or  rii'x  (the  preceding  word  ends  in  z). 

*  Accidental  variations  of  order  are  perhaps  found  in  41  25.  34. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Aboth  Rabbi  Nathan,  473 

Adultery,  punishment  of,  141 

Agnosticism,  520 

Agricultural  life,  63 

Alcimus,  the  high  priest,  537 

Alexander  (J.  A.),  hymn  of,  29  n. 

Angel,  mediating,  8 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  9,  37 

Apostates,  496 

Aristotle,  proverb  of,  438 

Asidean,  37 

Ass,  use  of,  473 


Cloths,  preparation  of,  544 

Cock,  the,  536 

Conscience,  163 

Daughters,  198 
Death,  violent,  530 
Demon,  bloodthirsty,  528 
Determinative,  appositional,  192 
Divine  jealousy  of  human  pre- 
tensions, 487 
Divorce  in  later  times,  I41 
Dog  in  Palestine,  478 

Early  marriage,  114 

Early  rising,  124 

55 


PAGE 

Eccl.  12^,  ii2n. 

Education  of  Jewish  children,     14,  86 
Elo"h,  522 

Elohim,  .    35 

Epicureanism,  43, 46, 104,  303,376,477 
Esoterism,  8 


Fourth  Gospel, 


26,  169,  174 


Generation,  eternal,  181 

God,  connection  of,  with  land,  52,  218 
Greek  element  in  Pr.,  22 

thought,  35 


Beatitudes  0 

f  Proverbs,                  67 

Guest-room, 

401 

Bowels, 

33.98 

Brain, 

33.98 

Harlots, 
Haying,  season  of. 

44 
493 

Cairn,  sacred. 

475 

Hermes  pillar. 

475 

Children,  education  of. 

Horses,  use  of. 

412,  473 

14,  86, 

27S,  376,  419 

Hyrax,  the. 

534 

Ijimortality,  300,  522,  523 

Indefinite  construction,  215 

Indra,  128 

Interest  on  money,  49811. 

Jewish    communities,  jurisdic- 
tion of,  no 

Jews,  apostate,  23 
in  Palestine,  agricultural  life  of,   201 

of  the  dispersion,  484 

Job  5,  date  of,  65 

15^,  xxxiii 

book  of,  80 

Justice,  39 


552 


INDEX 


PAGE 

1 

PAGE 

Kaum,  Arabian  deity, 

537 

Retaliation,  law  of, 

454 

Kidneys, 

98 

Revelation,  divine. 

32 

Kings,  attitude  of  OT. 

tovi^ard. 

168 

Rigveda, 

521  n. 

functions  of, 

323 

Koran, 

1X2 

!,  199 

Sacrifice, 

410 

Schools,    8,  9,  14,  51,  65,  84,  270,  424 

Leech, 

529 

Seasons, 

124 

Liver, 

98 

Shaphan,  the, 

534 

Lot, 

363 

Sheol,          15,  131,  307,  314,  33 

8,  404 

Luck, 

487 

see  also  Underworld,  Yahweh. 
Silver  dross, 

479 

Marriage, 

533 

Sinner,  attitude  of  sages  toward, 

27 

ceremonies. 

47 

Sister, 

347 

Mashal, 

3 

»524 

Slavery  among  the  Jews, 

238 

Massa,  land  of. 

539 

Slaves  as  rulers, 

371 

Mazdean  sacred  books. 

43 

price  of. 

246  n. 

Mead, 

382 

Socrates, 

22 

Midrash,                         j 

85.  475  n- 

.519 

Soul, 

40 

Moshel, 

518 

Suretyship, 

121 

Name,  significance  of. 

360 

TaliMUD,  the,   14,  47,  107,  152, 

Naukratis, 

45 

155,  199,  225,  307,  336, 

Nazirites, 

382 

395,  401,  473  n.,  475  n 

,498 

Night-patrol, 

151 

Taxes,  Egyptian, 

507 

Israelitish,                                   507  n. 

Paitan, 

3n- 

Parents,  obligation  to. 

505 

Underworld,  Babylonian, 

158 

Peccability,  human. 

386 

Urim  and  Thummim, 

16 

Perfection,  human, 
Pharisees, 

522 

386 
523 

Vows, 

394 

Pirke  Aboth,             354 

377»  429, 

430 

Weights  and  measures. 

324 

Piyut, 

3n- 

Wife,  how  chosen, 

374 

Prometheus, 

128 

Wine,  use  of. 

185 

Prostitution, 

45 

Wisdom    identical    with    God's 

Ptahhetep, 

142, 

303 

moral  law. 

27 

Punitive  blindness. 

28 

Wisdom  of  Sol., 
Women,  divorced. 

531 

533 

Rain  in  Palestine, 

468 

position  of,    103,  149,  198,  228 

,  243 

Rechabites, 

382 

property  rights  of. 

534 

Repentance, 

28 

Resentment, 

252 

Yahweh,  name  of, 

360 

Responsibility,  individual. 

195 

use  of  the  name, 

10 

Resurrection, 

522, 

523 

and  Sheol, 

307 

INDEX 


S53 


ABBRE  VIA  TIONS  * 


A.c.  After  Christ. 

Aid.  Aldine  Grk.  text  of  OT. 

Aq.  Aquila. 

Ar.  Arab.  Version  of  OT. 

AV.  Eng.  Authorized  Version. 

Baumg.    A.  J.  Baumgartner. 

B-D  Baer    and    Delitzsch,    Liber 

Proverb,  (textum  masore- 
ticum). 

BDB.  Heb.  and  Eng.  Lex.  of  OT., 
ed.  F.  Brown,  S.  R.  Driver, 
C.  A.  Briggs. 

Beck.  W.  A.  Becker,  Charicles  or 
Callus  (Eng.  trans.). 

Berth.  E.  Bertheau,  Die  Spriiche 
Salomo's. 

Bi.  G.  Bickell. 

Bott.         F.  Bottcher,  Neue  Aehrenlese. 

BS.  Ben-Sira  (Ecclesiasticus). 

Buxt.  J.  Buxtorf,  Lex.  Chald.  Tal- 
mud, et  Rabbin. 

Cappel.    L.  Cappellus,  Critica  Sacra. 

CI.  Al.      Clement  of  Alexandria. 

Cocc.  J.  Cocceius  (Koch),  Lex. 
Heb.  et  Chald. 

Compl.     Complutensian  Polyglot. 

Copt.        Coptic  Versions  of  Prov. 

De.  Franz   Delitzsch,  Das   Salo- 

mon. Spruchbuch. 
Friedr.  Delitzsch,  Assyr. 
Handworterbuch. 

Deism.     Deissmann,  Bibelstudien. 

De  R.  J.  B.  De-Rossi,  Var.  lect.  Vet. 
Test. 

Dr.  S.  R.  Driver,  Deuteronomy. 

Dys.         J.  Dyserinck. 

Ew.  H.  Ewald. 

Fleisch.    H.  L.  Fleischer. 

Frank.     W.  Frankenberg. 


(5  Alexandrian  Version  of  OT.; 

&^,  Vat.  MS.  of  (g,  etc. 
Geig.        A.  Geiger. 
Ges.  W.  Gesenius. 

Ginsb.      Ginsburg's  masoretic  text  of 

OT. 
Graec.  Ven.  Codex  Venetus  (=  H-P 

23)- 
Gr.  H.  Gratz. 

1^  Masoretic  text. 

Held.       M.  Heidenheim. 
Hi.  or  Hitz.  F.  Hitzig. 


H-P 

Holmes    and    Parsons,    Vet. 

Test,  graece. 

Houb. 

C.F.Houbigant,  Biblia  Hebr. 

Jag. 

J.  G.  Jaeger. 

J  A  OS. 

Journ.    of    Amer.     Oriental 

Soc'y. 

Kamp. 

A.  Kamphausen  (in 

Kautzsch's  Heilige 

Schrift). 

Kenn. 

B.  Kennicott,  Vet.  Test.  Heb. 

Klost. 

A.  Klostermann. 

Kon. 

F.   E.   Konig,    Lehrgebiiude 

d.  hebr.  Sprache. 

3L 

Jerome's  Version  of  OT. 

Lag. 

P.  de  Lagarde. 

Luth. 

Martin  Luther. 

Mich. 

C.  B.  Michaelis. 

NHW. 

Levy,  Neuhebr.  Worterbuch. 

Now. 

W.  Nowack. 

01s. 

J.    Olshausen,    Lehrbuch    d. 

heb.  Sprache. 

Pesh. 

Peshita  Syr.  Version  of  OT. 

Pink. 

H.  Pinkuss. 

Pirk.  Ab 

.  Pirke  Aboth. 

Proc. 

Procopius. 

Rawl. 

G.  Rawlinson. 

RV. 

Eng.  Revised  Version. 

*  Cf.  Bibliography,  p.  xxxv. 


554 


INDEX 


S  Peshita ;  &^^^,  ed.  of  Lee,  etc. 

5^  Hexaplar  Syriac. 

Saad.  Saadia's  Arab.  tr.  of  Prov. 

SBOT.  Haupt's  Sacred  Books  of  OT. 

Schl.  J.    F.    Schleusner,    Lex.    in 

LXX. 

Schult.  A.  Schultens. 

Siegf.  C.  Siegfried  (in  SB.). 

SS.  Siegfried    and    Stade,    Heb. 

Worterbuch. 

Str.  H.  L.  Strack. 

Sym.  Syramachus. 

2r  Targum. 

Th.  Theodotion. 


Venet.  (or,Ven.)  Grk.  Codex  Venetus. 

Vog.  G.  J.  L.  Vogel. 

Wellh.  J.  Wellhausen. 

Wild.  G.  Wildeboer. 

Zock.  O.  Zfickler. 

A,  or  'A  Aquila. 

S  Symmachus. 

0  Theodotion. 

DIACRITICAL    MARKS 

()  Insertion  for  clearness. 

'  '  Emendation  of  mas.  text. 

[]  Omission    of   Heb.  word   or 

words. 


